#Janet and Jack used to be on the ‘villains’ side

[randomrichards]

THE TOP 10 BEST FILM OF 2022

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

GLASS ONION

Rian Johnson proves he’s still got the touch with another subversively comedic addition to the Knives Out franchise. He delivers the twisty mystery, unique characters, and witty dialogue we know and love from the predecessor. There are side splitting gags galore from the characterizations (Dave Bautista as an MRA influencer who still lives with his mom) and the dialogue (“Please tell me you don’t think sweatshops are where they make sweatpants”).

DECISION TO LEAVE

On the surface, Decision to Leave is a modern film noir about a kind detective who develops an infatuation with a femme fatale after her husband falls off the top of a mountain. But as you would expect from a Park Chan-Wook film, the film becomes something much more.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Decades after the original best picture winning classic, Edgar Berge adapts Erich Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war story of a small group of eager young Germans who enthusiastically sign up to fight during WW1 only to be destroyed by the horrors of war. Many films show the devastation of war and its traumatic effects, but this film showcases the terror of being in the battlefields.

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

Puss competes against a group of baddies to reach a wishing star in the sequel nobody asked for that ended up being way better than it had any right to be.

First, it uses Spider-Man: Into the Spider verse’s animation technique to create an animation style that resembles illustrations come to life and create some dazzling action scenes. It also gives Puss some unforgettable villains ranging from the hilariously sociopathic Big Jack Horner (John Mulaney) to Dreamwork’s most terrifying villain the Wolf (Wagner Moura). Finally, it gives Puss some depth as he is forced to confront his mortality and how his obsession with his legacy has kept him from forming meaningful connections.

TAR

Cate Blanchett gives one of the year’s best performances as a narcissistic and well-respected composer whose actions eventually comes back to haunt her.

THE TOP 10 LIST:

10)          THE MENU

Satirical Comedy and unsettling horror make strange bedfellows in this unique tale of a Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), an average woman who joins her foodie boyfriend (Nicholas Hoult) to an all exclusive dinner led by renowned chef Julian Slowick (Ralph Fiennes). What they don’t know is that Julian plans to deliver some just desserts for his latest customers.

The plot plays like a mystery. With each dish served, we try to guess what Slowick’s got planned for these elites. And Slowick’s motives grow more and more unsettling. It’s best to go in knowing as little of the movie as possible.

The actors are more than game for their respective performances. Fiennes is unsettling as a stern perfectionist who has a bone to pick with all of them. Taylor-Joy makes the perfect audience surrogate as she calls out the absurdity of the food arrangements. The rest of the cast play into the caricatures of their characters from Hong Chau as Slowick’s fanatical waitress to Janet McTeer as a pretentious critic. Hoult in particular relishes his role as a devoted know-it-all. Just the scene of him crying over tasting bread accompaniments without the bread is sure to bring a snicker.

This film ruthlessly mocks the elitist foodie culture. Most of the customers care more about the status than the meal, never just enjoying the dishes. With each dish, Slowick calls the customers out on their privileges.

Available on Disney+

9)            THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

In a small village in WW1 era Ireland, Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) spend their days enjoying glasses of Guinness at the local pub. But then one day, Colm decides he doesn’t like Padraic anymore and cuts him out of life to focus on making music. But the daft and offended Padraic can’t seem to take a hint much to Colm’s annoyance and Padraic’s spitfire sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) chagrin. The locals aren’t much help, with many prying to know more about this incoming feud..

After earning acclaim (and some awards) with his Hollywood features Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, writer/director Martin McDonagh returns to his roots and reunites his In Bruges stars Farrell and Gleason. McDonagh brings his trademark dark comedy to a folksy environment from his biting dialogue (“If punching a policeman is a sin then we may as well pack up and go home”) and surprising violence.[1] It also fits into McDonagh’s reoccurring theme of men who are unable to handle emotional moments like mature adults. While it can be devastating for a friend to sever ties with you, but Padraic can be clingy. Colm isn’t helping matters by threatening self-mutilation. Farrell and Gleason’s performances prevent these two from being unbearable. Farrell stands out by bringing a childlike eagerness and naivety that makes Padraic likeable.

At the same time, McDonagh regards these characters with empathy. He shows as much understanding for Padraic’s gratefulness for his simple life as he does with Colm’s need to create a legacy through his music.

Also, McDonagh does an excellent job of creating a sense of environment with the village. There’s also a strong sense of community in this village, with everyone knowing each other. There is also a unique set of personalities in this village, from the eccentric old Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton) to the timid Dominic Kearney (Barry Keoghan). This simple area feels like a warm and inviting home many would like to live in.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a dark delight.

8)             THE BATMAN

Who would have thought that there’d be a Batman movie that could pull off the feel of a David Fincher film? But Matt Reeves (along with co-writer Peter Craig) surprises the world with DC’s answer to Se7en and Zodiac. He brings the world a young Batman (Robert Pattison) in his second year who attracts the attention of the Riddler (Paul Dano), whose killing off key political figures in Gotham City. As he tries to get to the bottom of the Riddler’s murders, Batman comes to realize how corrupt Gotham’s world truly is and is forced to confront the sins of his father.

After two dark and gritty reboots of Batman and a post-pandemic world, this version really needed to impress. And it didn’t disappoint. Reeves delivers refreshing takes on every aspect of the iconic franchise. Gotham City has never looked seedier than it does in this film, with endless rain, decaying infrastructure and array of street gangs. This Batman we get is a young man who has let his Batman persona consume his life to the point where he barely has anything to do with Bruce Wayne.[2] But the most surprising update is the complete reinvention of The Riddler. This villain goes from being one of most mocked of Batman’s rogue’s gallery to being a Zodiac-like menace who seems to be constantly 10 steps ahead of everyone[3].

All these characters work because of the performances. Pattison proves himself a worthy Batman whether he’s interrogating Oswald (Colin Farrell) or taking down an army of muggers. Paul Dano weaponizes his everyman looks to hide an intimidating and sociopathic genius behind the green mask and distorted vocals. Farrell goes beyond the heavy makeup to create a ruthless, fast-talking version of the Penguin. Zoe Kravitz’ performance is probably the most comic accurate portrayal of Catwoman, especially when it comes to her dynamic with Batman. That’s not even getting into how Jeffrey Wright and Andy Serkis perfectly capturing the essences of Jim Gordon and Alfred respectively.

There’s also way more focus on the Detective aspect of Batman than in most versions. While we do see him in some kickass action scenes, for the most part, we see the World’s Greatest Detective use his sleuthing skills to solve the Riddler’s twisted riddles and investigate crime scenes. This brings more focus on the intrigue of the mystery.

And that score. That glorious musical score. Michael Giacchino delivers an epic, booming score worthy of joining the batman scores provided by Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer.

It’s not a perfect movie. The biggest problem is the running time, which can lead to some dragging scenes that will be too much for some audiences. But the strengths of the film make up for these flaws. Here’s hoping Reeves keeps this up for the inevitable sequel.

Available on Crave

7)             BOILING POINT

Writer/Director Philip Barantini seems to have taken a lesson from Uncut Gems on how to make a film feel like a relentless panic attack when he made Boiling Point; a tense drama about a stressed-out head chef (Stephen Graham) trying to get through the busiest night of the year.

Barantini and cinematographer Matthew Lewis make the risky move of shooting the whole film in a single take. It is easy for this to become gimmicky, but they use it effectively to emphasize how stressful it is to work in a restaurant. As the camera moves across the kitchen and into the dining area, it’s clear there’s no escape from the stress not even when head chef Andy Jones heads to his office to try and catch his breath. The rumbling of the kitchen as Andy sits alone in his desk makes it clear he has nowhere to hide.

Barantini also keeps the stress going by surrounding the environment with multiple clashes. The dishwasher’s upset that her replacement is hours late. The sous chefs and head waiter are at each other’s throats. Andy’s co-owner has invited a critic to dine with him. Barantini does an excellent job of balancing the multiple storylines within the short 92-minute screen time. He even manages to create some satisfying set ups and payoffs. One perfect example is a reoccurring arc with one chef whose constantly being told to roll up his sleeve. The revelation behind this arc with stay with you.

Boiling Point has a phenomenal cast who all deliver compelling performances as they scream over each other trying to get their point across. Usually typecast as the villain, Graham delivers his best performance as a man trying to keep it together while his life is going down the tubes. He makes you feel his hopelessness and overwhelming strain as he downs bottles of whisky, trying to get through the day. Even at his most self-destructive moments, you feel for him.

The result is a drama that does a better job of keeping the audience at the edge of their seat than most thrillers wished they could.

6)             RRR

With the growing interest in Tollywood films, RRR makes the perfect gateway drug. Rarely in recent years has there been an action film so unapologetically epic as RRR, which has broken into the mainstream.

As with many Tollywood action films, Director S.S. Rajamouli, co-writers Vijayendra Prasad and Sai Madhave Burra along with the cast and crew take every element of the epic action flick and turn them all up to eleven. In a time when there is a call for more flawed, relatable protagonists in movies, RRR gives us a duel of superhuman action heroes performing impossible feats of agility. The opening scenes alone have rebel leader Komaram Bheem (NT Rama Rao Jr) chasing a wolf and a tiger and misguided soldier Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan Teja) leaping over a fence and fighting a whole crowd to capture one suspect. Let’s see the Fast and Furious franchise have its heroes leap over a bridge on a motorcycle or a horse and swing on a rope carrying the Indian flag to rescue a boy from a fire.

While there is a pressure for films to keep any messages nuanced and subtle, RRR serves as a three hour middle finger to the British Empire. That empire is embodied by the mustache twirling Scott and Catherine Buxton (Ray Stevenson and Alison Doody) who literally kidnap a little girl and kill the mother in the first scene.  There would have been a danger of the villains being cringe, but Stevenson and Doody savour their villainy like a classic Disney villain. Even they get in on the over the top violence, with Mr. Buxton firing a machine gun while flying out a crashing car. It makes their downfall more satisfying.

If that isn’t enough, RRR also has musical numbers as epic as the action scenes. They manage to appear in the unlikeliest of moments like a motorcycle/horse race and one character being tortured with a whip. Most notable standout is a dance off between the heroes and one snobby British soldier.

But at its core, RRR is a story about a friendship between two men who don’t realize that one’s supposed to arrest the other and a tale about a tribal leader on a mission to rescue a little girl from rich captors. The fact this film makes us care about story and keep the audience hooked over its long screentime shows the power of this epic.

Available on Netflix

5)             THE NORTHMAN

After taking the horror genre by storm with The Witch and The Lighthouse, writer/director Robert Eggers gives us something completely different with The Northman. In contrast to his previous low budget A24 arthouse horror flicks, Egger’s latest is a big budget epic historical action flick. It may be his most accessible film, but that doesn’t stop him from bringing his boundary pushing style into this film.

The Northman is Hamlet-like revenge tale of Almeth (Alexander Skarsgaard), a Viking prince who seeks vengeance on his uncle Fjolnier (Claes Bang) who kills his father King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke) and marries his mother Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman). After years in exile, Prince Amleth disguises himself as a slave and enlists the help of an enchantress (Anya Taylor-Joy) to bring down the King Fjolnier the Brotherless.

Eggers brings a refreshing take on the Viking historical drama with his trademark style. Like his previous films, Eggers (along with his co-worker Sjon) goes out of his way to make his stories as historically accurate as possible. As a result, we get the ugliest side of the Viking life. The images of people in chains makes it clear that Amleth’s family owns slaves. When Amleth’s in exile, he joins a group of Vikings in pillaging and terrorizing innocent people. In one horrifying scene, those Vikings trap women and children in a cottage and burn it down. Keep in mind that the protagonist watches this happen.

What’s strange is that Eggers also includes fantastical moments that draws from Norse Mythology. The result is otherworldly imagery of Amleth meeting with the Seeress (Bjork). It doesn’t seem like this should work, but somehow these elements make strange bedfellows.

Unlike his previous films, Eggars doesn’t go for historically accuracy with the dialogue. As a result, the audience has a better grasp of what the characters are saying. The dialogue is still kind of Shakespearean but just enough to the characters are still easy to understand.

Of course, the action scenes are awesome with the blood and dismemberment you expect from an R-rated movie with Vikings. It leads to a most metal ending with Amleth and his uncle going head-to-head in a volcano in their birthday suits.

With this film bombing at the box office, it’s doubtful Eggers will ever have the means to make a film as epic as this one.

Available on Crave

4)            GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO

2022 was the strange year where we got three Pinocchio movies in a row. After listening to Pauly Shore butcher lines and Disney butcher their original classic, most moviegoers knew Guillermo Del Toro’s stop motion version would be the best one by default. But even without the other two films, there would still be major anticipation for Del Toro’s first animated feature film. With his trademark fleshed out mythology, creative character designs and compelling storytelling, many expected him to perfectly capture the macabre tone of Carlo Collodi’s tale. What we got is a refreshing take on the classic take on the wooden boy who longs to be a real boy.

Del Toro (alongside codirector Mark Gustafson and co-writers Patrick McHale and Matthew Robbins) perfectly balances capturing the story’s dark tone and core storyline while changing many elements of the story. This Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) is a lot closer to the disobedient troublemaker of the original story than Disney’s sweet but gullible character. Like Collodi’s tale, this story has our hero causing grief for his creator/father Geppetto (David Bradley), being led astray by crooks and trouble making teens only to suffer the repercussions before the climax of trying to escape from inside the whale. It even includes both the Christian undertones of the original story and even its dark comedy (among them a reoccurring gag of Sebastian the Cricket (Ewan McGregor) constantly being squashed.) It also borrows a bit from the Disney version with the Blue Fairy (Tilda Swinton) bringing the puppet to life and the cricket trying to guide him.

But this film also makes a lot of changes from the original story. First, Del Toro sets the film in Italy during Mussolini’s reign. Not only does this fit into Del Toro’s reoccurring theme of life under fascism, but it brings nuance to the original story’s message of obeying your parents. While the film does have Pinocchio deal with consequences for misbehaving, the film also shows the dangers of blinding obeying those in power and makes the case that disobedience is necessary when it involves doing the right thing. The film also fleshes out the characters to bring complexity. While Pinocchio is still a disobedient troublemaker, he also has his heart in the right place and will stick up for others. Geppetto is a broken man grieving the loss of his dead son Carlo (also Mann). Sebastian is a wannabe writer who makes his home in Pinocchio’s chest. Del Toro also brings in an array of unique characters from ruthless ringmaster Count Volpe (Christoph Walz) to terrifying fascist enforcer Podesta (Ron Pearlman). All the actors do excellent jobs of making their characters engaging, especially Mann.

Co-Director Mark Gustafson perfectly brings Del Toro’s trademark style into the animation world, resulting in some unique visuals. Pinocchio has never looked more wooden with spiky wooden hair, tiny black dotted eyes, and multiple nails in his back. The Blue fairy aka the wood sprite (also Swinton) is this otherworldly blend of Hari Krishna and a mermaid. Death is this sphinxlike creature in a world of blue sand. What’s most notable is how the settings and character design resemble classic storybook illustrations come to life.

The film is also a musical, with songs created by composer Alexandre Desplat alongside Del Toro and lyricist Roeban Katz. The old timey style perfectly serves to further the narrative and reveal more about the characters, but they don’t stand out the way Encanto’s songs did. The one exception is “Ciao Papa.” When Pinocchio pours his heart out to his long distant father, you can feel that longing so much it may bring you to tears.

No wonder many see this as the front runner for the Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Available on Netflix

3)            AFTERSUN

Most filmmakers try to make their films memorable. Aftersun is a rare film that feels like a memory.

On the surface, it’s a simple story of a single Dad (Paul Mescal) and his daughter (Frankie Corio) taking a trip to a Turkish beachside resort. There is no real plot. No central conflict. It’s just segments of a father and daughter on vacation. At least, that’s what it seems like at first. Hidden in plain sight are signs of the father hiding some personal pain from his daughter.

In her debut feature, writer/director Charlotte Wells takes us into segments of this vacation, even replaying some moments on camcorder. The result is a film that feels like we’re entering the daughter’s memories as she tries to understand her father.

The strength of Wells’ filmmaking is how she avoids the temptation to dramatize any element of the plot in favour of making it as naturalistic as possible. Never does she make it clear what the dad’s going through. You only get the most subtle of hints. She only applies any artistry with the ending that will stay in your mind long after the credits roll.

That’s helped by the performances by the two leads. Mescal and Corio bounce off each other perfectly, making us believe they are an actual family. They both also maintain low key naturalization throughout the film.

Put all these together and you get an unassuming drama that stays with you long after the credits roll.

2)             (TIE) BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND, GOLDEN DELICIOUS AND YOU WILL LIVE FOREVER

I admit that I have a habit of putting ties in my lists, not helped by me including a three-way tie in this one. But these 3 films have so much in common that I felt they deserve to be put together. Well, that and these are probably the least known films on this list, and I feel they deserve more attention.

All three are Canadian films centered on LBGT teens who move into new locations, which leads to developing deep relationships. They’re similar yet different. The most important commonality are the compelling stories of relatable, flawed young people trying to fit into their world and figure out what they really want in life in the process.

First, we have Before I Change My Mind. Set in 1987, the movie centres on Robin (Vaughn Murrae), a non-binary preteen who moves to a small Albertan town from the US with their father (Matthew Rankin). There are of course questions from the students what Robin’s gender is. To fit in, Robin tries to befriend the school bully Carter (Dominic Lippa). On one hand, it makes it easier for Robin to form friends. On the other, it leads to Robin making misguided decisions.  

Director Trevor Anderson and co-writer Fish Griwkowsky capture the everyday life of preteens as they make snide comments during music class, pick fights with each other and just hanging around in the living room. What makes this film special is how it captures the difficulties of being a preteen. Robin and their classmates try their best to fit in with their peers. Sometimes it can be found in healthy activities like hanging around in the mall. Other times it comes from misguided decisions including sneaking into their parents alcohol or in one student’s case, completely changing his personality after being bullied.

The film also captures the frustration of dealing with emerging emotions you have no understanding of and now healthy means of channeling them. That’s especially true with Robin who has no idea of their own gender identity since non-binary wasn’t a common term in the 80s. As a result, they become targets for fellow classmates who keep demanding to know if they are a boy or a girl.. Being non-binary themselves, Murrae makes the audience feel how lost Robin feels. Anderson and Griwkowsky do an excellent job of using subtext to capture this feeling. And they never offer any easy answers.

There are also some funny moments in the film. When gym class separates the boys and girls, Robin sits in the middle. Robin and Carter try to convince a drag queen (dressed like Madonna) to buy them beers. But the comedic high point is the school’s disastrous rock musical rip-off of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Next, we have Golden Delicious. Jake (Cardi Wong) seemed to be living the perfect teen life as a basketball player whose relationship with his girlfriend Valerie (Parmiss Sehat) is popular on social media. But he finds his life turned upside down when new student Aleks (Chris Carson) moves next door. As Jake and Aleks both train for the basketball team, Jake is forced to confront the pressure his father George (Ryan Mah) places on him.

Director Jason Karman (through Gorrman Lee’s screenplay) channels his youth to capture the pressure of having to live up to expectations. Jake tries his best to please his father, despite not being the best skilled in the team. Georges’s pressure is embodied by the old, decaying basketball hoop he forces Jake to practice on. Through Aleks, Jake’s confronted with the fact that he has never learned to live for himself.

Lee also fleshes out Jake’s family, who is dealing with their own pressure. George and his wife Andrea (Leeah Wong) are trying to keep their Chinese restaurant afloat, but the stress of running the restaurant has taken its toll on Andrea. When their daughter Janet (Claudia Kai) discusses her interest in being a chef, Andrea tries to forbid her. Janet has her own arc where Janet tries to create her late grandma’s dishes. This family feels so achingly human and relatable.

Of course, there’s excellent chemistry between Wong and Carson as their characters build from a friendship into a relationship.

And finally, we have You Can Live Forever. Rebellious teen Jaime (Anwen O’Driscoll) is forced to live with her aunt Beth (Liane Balaban) while her mother recollects herself after her husband’s death. Beth is a Jehovah’s Witness whose husband Francois (Antoine Yared) hopes to be the leader of his congregation. While being forced to attend sermons, Jaime develops a friendship with fellow devout Marike (June Laporte). Soon that develops into something more, which is risky in a homophobic fringe community.

A romantic film like these lives and dies on the chemistry between the leads. When two leads have such differing personalities/worldviews, it’s very important that the two leads have convincing chemistry for the relationship to make sense. O’Driscoll and Laporte pull that off beautifully, conveying a warm intimacy between Jaime and Marike as they hide in plain sight with little intimate gestures. It helps that both actresses make their characters feel like real people. O’Driscoll portrays Jaime as a typical teen whose big glasses and grunge wardrobe hides a slightly rebellious teen frustrated at being stuck in a situation outside of her control. Laporte makes Marike a timid girl devoted to her religion yet forms an infatuation with Jaime. Writer/Directors Mark Slutsky and Sarah Watts avoid the temptation of melodrama in favour of grounded empathy. They allow us to understand what Marike finds in her faith while showing how it can be stifling for Jaime.

All three deliver achingly human stories of young people trying to find what they truly want in life.

1)            EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

In a time when franchises consume movie theatres, Everything, Everywhere All at Once came out of nowhere to deliver an everything bagel the zeitgeist can sink its teeth into.

Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) finds herself dissatisfied with her life as a struggling Laundromat owner, further aggravated by her goofball husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), her contentious relationship with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) and her overly critical father (James Hong). If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s being audited by the IRS, forcing her to deal with an austere IRS agent (Jamie Lee Curtis). Suddenly, Evelyn finds Waymond possessed by an alternate version of himself and Evelyn’s tasked with saving multiple universes from the mysterious and all powerful villain known as Jobu.

The Dynamic Duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert already proved their originality with their music video Turn Down for What and their feature film debut Swiss Army Man. Who would have thought they could create an existential tale of a mother daughter relationship involving googly eyes, hot dog fingers and a ratatouille parody?

As you expect from the Daniel’s previous works, it delivers on the weird and hilarious imagery (often involving leud objects). One minute, Waymond is gluing googly eyes on everything, and the next he’s taking down security guards with a fanny pack. That’s just one of many examples of the creative and well-choreographed fights scenes the Daniel’s have in store for the viewers. Only they could image fight scenes either involving Waymond intentionally giving himself paper cuts or henchmen trying to shove a trophy up where the sun don’t shine.

With moments like these, you would never expect anything profound in the film. And yet, the Daniels somehow balances these silly moments with deep, philosophical themes. Evelyn comes to realize how the little choices she made in life can have major outcomes after glimpsing versions of herself as a famous actress, a kung fu artist and a chef. Her journey also forces her to reexamine her perceptions of her husband and reconcile her relationship with her daughter. The battle between Evelyn and Jobu shows how perception can alter how one handles the meaningless of life. It’s surprising how deep this film can get.

The result is a cinematic miracle that delivers a truly unique experience.

Available on Prime Video

[1] When Colm threatens to cut off his fingers if Padraic talks to him again, you know a finger’s going to come off at some point.

[2] So consumed that he only has around 3-4 scenes as Bruce Wayne. It’s funny. In his Godzilla reboot, he barely showed the iconic monster on screen. For The Batman, we get all the caped crusader we could ever want.

[3][3] He also seems to be doing a better job of getting rid of corruption than Batman is.

[brostateexam]

I’m watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania— in which she plays Ant-Man’s girlfriend’s mom, Janet van Dyne, and he plays time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror — at the AMC Empire 25 near Times Square. Although a ticket to this matinee costs more than a month’s worth of Netflix’s priciest subscription plan, the image onscreen is so dim that it’s hard to make out much of the movie’s action and all of its glamorous stars have been turned dark gray. Next to me is Jack Theakston, a projection specialist who works as a contractor at Dolby Laboratories, who immediately diagnoses the problem: This is a 2-D showing of Ant-Man, but some neglectful employee has forgotten to remove the 3-D filter from the projector.

“It’s a polarized lens that cuts a picture’s brightness by a third,” he says. “They just have to push it to the side when they switch to 2-D, but theaters forget to do it all the time. You can tell when it’s happening because if you look at the port-window glass, instead of a single image, you’ll see two, with one stacked on top of the other.” He points up to the booth behind us, and sure enough, there are two stacked beams.

Theakston, who’s also a member of the IATSE Local 306 cinema-technicians union, has agreed to spend the afternoon assessing the projection quality at the AMC Empire and nearby Regal E-Walk multiplex, the flagship locations of the two largest cinema chains in the U.S. I buy us tickets to various movies, and we sneak around from theater to theater.

At AMC, Ant-Man is the worst offender, but in another auditorium, trailers are playing on screen that’s creased and sagging. Almost as bad: The picture is trapezoidal instead of rectangular, a phenomenon known as keystoning, which happens when a projector is not set up perpendicular to the screen. It’s fixable with software, if one bothers to do it.

[lacefuneral]

character opinion bingo: jim jimenez & izzy hands (OFMD)

(in regards to this poast:)

[murray hewitt voice] jim!!!!! my best friend jim!!!

the moths are all over the board for this one.

okay so. i have complex feelings about jim. on one hand, i love them. easily the coolest character on the entire show. but feel like we needed even more screentime with them then we got. i mean, hell, they fucking teleport onto the ship with no explanation. an entire bit was cut out about them lying to oluwande about their favorite color, only for them to open up later and tell him the truth. that's important! that's an important part of character development just... deleted. removed. reshaped.

i love the relationship with oluwande but i feel like it needs to be more fleshed out because, again, stuff got cut. but even aside from this, i feel like they were sidelined to favor the the leads.

but my main complaint is... how jim was handled. because, okay. yes. there were nonbinary people in the writer's room, but this is still a show created by a cis man. and jim is outed against their will. twice! the first being the most egregious, with their naked body being seen by lucius without their consent (to be fair, neither of them consented to that). and it's... sososo icky yucky. not to mention, if you watch the audio description, jim is consistently misgendered as "a young woman" and with she/her pronouns. i feel like it would have been so easy to say "an androgynous person" or even just "a person" or fucking. "jim".

there's also the fact that the way jim's identity is tackled on the show is that people loudly proclaim that they're a woman over and over again, and then suddenly characters are using they/them for them, and this is never explained. especially because nana deadnames them repeatedly (even if she uses the right pronouns). so every time i have introduced the show to a cis person, i've had to sit them down and explain "i know the show will tell you that jim is a woman, but they are transgender. they are nonbinary."

i don't expect jim to walk up to the camera and say "i'm nonbinary and I use they/them" pronouns, but more care could have been put into how their story was told.

my proposal, in a rewrite, would be as simple as jim's beard falling off in front of lucius. maybe it gets caught on part of the ship. the same events still play out, but jim isn't forced to be seen in the nude. and if jim did something like janet from "the good place" - correcting when someone says woman to "not a woman" - i feel like that would solve so much even without a full blown coming out scene.

ok. so. izzy hands.

here's the thing about izzy hands.

he serves a very important narrative purpose as the personification of homophobia and toxic masculinity. he's excellent as a villain. the show would not be able to function without izzy hands in it.

i found myself being repelled by him while watching, particularly because i watched the show at a time where i'd just cast aside a metaphorical izzy. for a while, i was deeply ashamed of the fact that i was a GNC man, and i felt like not being attracted to women anymore somehow made me lesser? less queer? and when i was watching the show, i was coming through on the other side of that. and before that, a couple of years ago, i was struggling with a lot of internalized transphobia.

and having sloughed all of that off of me like dead skin, I felt like Izzy's purpose was obvious. homophobia, bad. toxic masculinity, bad. he's less a character in his own right and more of a vessel for the societal attitudes at this time - he has this in common with the batminton twins and calico jack. very little depth beyond "this is a bully, and his motivation for hurting people is because he wants to."

(con adds to his character's lore, which is lovely and i'm glad he's doing this - but in the show itself, that substance just isn't there. maybe we'll get something more substantial in season 2 that rounds him out beyond his obsession with ed.)

but in the way that cishet dudes will watch "Fight Club" and "American Psycho" and walk away idolizing Tyler Durden and Patrick Batemen respectively - entirely missing the point of the satire of these movies - I feel like a lot of white transmascs watched this show, saw Con O'Neill in leather, and their brains shut off. I've seen people say things about Izzy Hands that is so far removed from the character we see on screen it's genuinely baffling to me.

Some people do Izzy Hands right. Some people say "this guy needs a lot of work" "this guy needs to leave Ed alone" or even "Izzy Hands should remain an unrepentant and bitter asshole, and the crew should treat him as such - which is to say, distance themselves from him."

But so, so many babygirlify him. And as part of that process, they do this horrible thing to Ed. They dehumanize him. They villainize him, and not even for the right reasons. How dare he break Izzy's heart, by not wanting to fuck him they say. Hey guys? Ed cut off his toe. I know you like to meme about it but that's a real criticism you could use instead of "this brown man is heartless and doesn't deserve boundaries." I hope that this isn't a revelation to anybody: No one owes you anything, ever. And Ed certainly doesn't owe a homophobic man that verbally abuses him and cuts him down for being emotionally open anything at all.

TL;DR - Izzy Hands isn't my favorite, but he's important to the plot, but also the fans irritate me to hell. Not all of them. Hashtag not all Izzy Fans. Hashtag some of my best friends are Izzy Fans. Hashtag hashtag. Disclaimer this is my opinion. Etc. Etc.

[jmoriarty-221b]

New AU idea: I’ve found out that there’s some versions of the Batman comics where Tim Drake becomes Red Robin straight off the bat (he was never Robin & didn’t go to Batman) so I’m running with that

This Tim Drake doesn’t find Batman all that amazing, he recognizes Batman as a hero and as a symbol of Hope for Gotham, but he also sees him as just one man trying to make a difference, he holds more admiration towards Robin, specifically Jason’s Robin since he knows Gotham in ways Batman doesn’t, he checks on the street kids and the homeless, makes hot chocolate runs for the working girls when he can, and he is more interested in helping those in Crime Alley, a place where Batman and the previous Robin didn’t tend to patrol before Jason

And Tim has never been a normal child, there’s really no way for him to be human but there’s also no way to prove that he isn’t human, he passes the DNA tests, he doesn’t have a meta gene, he doesn’t have a mutation nor a difference in genetics, physiologically? There’s nothing to prove that Tim is anything other than human. In practice? Tim isn’t exactly limited if he cut off a limb, if he were to be shot in the head it would take approximately five minutes for him to heal back up, he can decide whether or not a wound will leave scars on his body, he can choose whether or not a mortal wound would put him in the ground permanently, most importantly, he can choose whether or not to contact his crew from the Isle that was supposed to be his home

There’s a reason as to why Tim isn’t exactly fond of heroes, after all, heroes decided to sentence countless of children yet to be born to a life of pain, suffering and poverty amongst an island filled with villains, heroes are the ones who put a barrier over the Isle that prevented its occupants from accessing their magic, heroes are the reason that his fae sisters and djinn brother and sea witch cousin and pirate friends are unable to access a part of themselves, he reason that they are unable to grow up properly and learn to control and feel and channel their magical cores, heroes are the reason for why him and his family hide behind fake names, and if it wasn’t for his parents’ quick thinking and preparations to flee then heroes would’ve been the reason he would’ve also grown up imprisoned and unable to access an integral part of himself

So no, Tim isn’t exactly impressed by the Batman

But Gotham exudes a similar signature as the one of the Isle of the Lost, making it the one place to where his parents could establish themselves undetected as the pollution would obscure their magical signatures had anyone looked for them, of course, Tim wasn’t old enough to learn how to lock down his own magical core in a way that wasn’t detrimental to himself, so he couldn’t be taken out of Gotham to accompany his parents on their numerous trips around the world, and such was his boredom that he decided to take advantage of his lack of adult supervision and explore Gotham

Having been taught about what became of the people he would’ve known as family from his parents as well as reading up every book he could in the ancient family library regarding long distance communication with magical kin, Tim ends up with a plan to meet with kids on the Isle as soon as he can, it turns out that establishing communication with the Isle requires for him to be in a part of Gotham that has the same atmosphere as the Isle, so Little Tim sets up shop in a semi secure rooftop in Crime Alley and establishes communication, needless to say he’s in for a surprise because “Oh wow why are you there Mr. Hades, you could escape any time and there’s no way those mortals could hope to contain your power, so why are you on the Isle?”

Turns out that attempting communication from a place surrounded by death and sorrow would lead to Tim establishing a magical video chat with the Lord of the Underworld, who’d’ve thunk? Anyway, Hades is literally just chilling for the next hundred years on the Isle because it’s easier to agree to mortals’ demands than obliterate them, and it’s less paperwork too so win-win, and one afternoon he’s suddenly communicating with one of the cutest little chipmunks he’s seen (kids are cute, and Tim is still a baby so he’s Tiny Cute) who introduced himself as Timothy Dwake and isn’t that just precious that the little tyke still has trouble with his r’s but how is he able to communicate with him on the Isle oh, that’s Janet’s kid, well shit guess he has a godson now (Janet had always wanted for Tim to be protected and that’s why she had been one of the few to escape the Isle, she had been a good friend back in the day so it seemed only fair for him to return the favor by looking out for Tiny Tim; it has nothing to do with Tim’s very cute face and slightly chubby cheeks that he kinda wants to pinch and his cute little lisp no Persephone I’m not attached-)

Anyway, so Tim ends up learning from his Uncle H on how to control his magical core and how to defend himself against physical and magical threats, he has a talent for using shadows to conceal himself as well as to listen in on others and gather information, if he concentrates really hard he can even manipulate shadows into solid figures, once he told this to his Uncle new training lessons began and now Tim is able to maintain his shadow constructs solid for longer periods of time as well as give them shape, over time he would learn more control over his ability and it will become easier to make weapons from shadows, his Uncle H also trains him in combat, particularly lost forms of combat from ancient civilizations

One particular night Tim wasn’t able to go to their meeting spot in Crime Alley, there was an Arkham Breakout and he wasn’t about to be caught up in that shit because could he fight off some villains and protect himself? Sure, but that would mean a possibility of getting the Batman’s attention and he’s not about to do that so staying at home it is, and now he is walking alone in the Drake gardens, he has no one to practice his fighting techniques with, no one to talk to, no one to teach him about what’s happening in the Isle, no one to teach him how to control his powers and his parents are gone for most of the year and they say that they’ll take him with them when he’s older but they’ve been saying that for years and now he’s much better at concealing his power and the King of Auradon believes he put every villain away for good so it’s not like they’re searching for his magical signature anyway so WHY WON’T HIS PARENTS TAKE HIM WITH THEM!?!?!? WHY IS HE ALWAYS LEFT ALONE!?!?!?

As he got progressively angrier, Tim hadn’t noticed how his power became stronger, how shadows grew larger, nor how the ground seemed to tremble and crack, it wasn’t until the ground literally split in front of him that he realized that maybe his power may have gotten out of hand, a bit, maybe, to be fair, he didn’t mean to summon a skeleton warrior with who he could practice his fighting with but hey, silver lining and all that, and he has something else to tell his Uncle H about in their next meeting (Hades may or may not have blessed his godson, and the blessing may or may not have given Tim some sort of control over his domains)

Anyway, eventually Tim learns how to see what’s happening in the Isle on his own from a sort of bird’s eye view, he sees what kids his age are going through and tries to find ways to alleviate the pain, he begins to talk to the kids and establishes rapport with them, he becomes friends with little Uma and Harry by bonding over swordplay, he gives Jay and Carlos tips for how to find the best hiding spots, he learns from Evie how to hide more stuff in his clothes and how to add more protective fabrics to his wardrobe, he and Mal bond over high parental expectations (she reminds him of Hades sometimes, and he thinks her eyes are a very pretty green with gold flecks sprinkled in, he may have a crush???) (Psssst, Mal likes Tim’s eyes too, she thinks it’s very pretty how they seem to change shades depending on his mood and when he’s happy they match her purple hair) *cue cuteness from these unfortunate little beans because yes*

Anyway, Tim has been working on creating a portal to a secluded part of the Isle from where he could send supplies to kids there, he was 8 years old when he started looking into this possibility after managing to make friends with the kids and now, at 13, he has finally managed to make it happen, he can only send non-living things through the portal tho, because although theoretically he Could send himself over, then he’d be stuck behind the barrier and couldn’t access his magic so that’s a big no, and he also can’t take the risk of getting someone from the Isle out because he can’t guarantee their safety (he tried with small insects and one time with a mouse; they died); the first thing he sends are medical supplies, food and bottled water, at first it’s only for his close friends, then they all establish a sort of routine and plan to get these supplies to other kids while hiding what they’re doing from their parents behind the guise of building their own gang on the Isle, Uma with the pirates and Mal with the inner city, Tim becomes their sort of advisor on important matters having seen what strategy tends to work when recruiting people as well as how to better approach street kids, he gets nicknamed the Shadow Angel for helping from behind the curtain, literally

Tim continues to learn as much as he can from his Uncle H, shadows Robin around Crime Alley, avoids gaining Batman’s attention and acquires supplies to send to the Isle three times a week from different places (he’s gotta cover his tracks, otherwise he runs the risk of getting Batman’s attention even if it’s just because the same person keeps buying food, water and medical supplies from various stores each week) but Tim has money, and he has experience regarding gangs and their recruiting and internal works (he’s helping his friends make their own gangs after all) and these people are in need of help as well, so he decides to make his own ‘gang’ by hiring people to do supply runs for him, he poses as a recruiter and gives fliers with information about his own gang and the benefits that joining will have (health insurance, dental, payed maternity leave, payed recuperation period, payed physical therapy and medical bills in case Batman decides to pop in, education is provided for anyone who wishes to get their GED and continue their education, etc); in the end, Tim keeps the Boss’ identity a secret until he reaches adulthood because no one would take a kid seriously, but he ends up amassing his own gang in Gotham while at the same time improving the life of people in poverty areas like Crime Alley and the Bowery

Of course, everything comes to a head when Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos are elected to go to school in Auradon leaving Uma as the only leader on the Isle, meanwhile Tim has been keeping tabs on Robin and gets to save Jason from Joker in Ethiopia (turns out being able to summon a skeleton army comes in handy when rescuing Robin from a deranged psychopath like Joker) so Tim is simultaneously saving Jason while still trying to remain anonymous to Batman (he’s built and maintained an entire gang in the most crime ridden part of Gotham for years, he’s not about to get involved with the Bats now)

So Tim only finds out about what happened to Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos until they’re already in Auradon and decides you know what? Fuck it, I’m gonna meet my friends face to face, besides, he can handle maintaining a gang in Gotham, he’s sure he can handle Auradon (update: he cannot, he’s this close 🤏 to rocking someone’s shit, he proposes overtaking the kingdom twice a day, he knows they could do it, and it’ll be easy even, but it’s the paperwork that’s holding them back, meh, let Ben do the grunt work and become an advisor, at least their manipulations would be in favor of improving the life of kids in poverty unlike other people who just want to get more money from their position close to the crown, gotta love politics)

Anyway, Tim Drake does become Red Robin, gang leader and benevolent overlord of Crime Alley and the Bowery, helping Gotham citizens and being the Shadow Angel of the Isle, plotting Auradon’s downfall for fun on his slow days as well as working on taking out the kids from the Isle and setting up safe houses for them for when he and his friends figure out how to save the kids

[tsarisfanfiction]

Fic Rec Bingo

Okie dokie, this is the Fan Rec Bingo - idea courtesy of lightvials on twitter, but I don’t have a twitter that I ever use, so I’m filling it out here instead.  Let’s see if I can fill it all out!

I did, and then some.  To save poor dashboards, it’s all under the cut!  If I know author tumblrs they’ve been mentioned - I know pitifully few so if anyone knows the ones I don’t, let me know so I can mention them, too!

A fic you love without knowing the source material: The Dragon-King’s Temple by Kyral (Stargate SG-1/Avatar the Last Airbender)

Through the spite of the spirits or plain rotten chance, a door that would have been better left untouched has opened. On the other hand, with Fire and Earth as one's allies, sometimes escaping is the easy part. Rated: Gen.  AO3 Archive Warning for Graphic Descriptions of Violence. Characters: Zuko, Toph Beifong, Janet Fraiser, Sam Carter, Jack O’Neill, and more Words: 196311.  Status: Complete

I very rarely read fics without already knowing the canon, but one that I think counts would be a Stargate/ATLA crossover, because I know nothing about Stargate and I have yet to finish ATLA!  This was recommended to me due to the creativity of the author regarding a language barrier (something I always enjoy, and my friend knows that).

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A fic series with a premise that shouldn’t work but it does: Crazy=Genius by blackkat (Bleach/Harry Potter)

Minerva McGonagall isn't about to let Harry go back to the Dursleys after his first year. She finds an alternative, and along the way, Bazzard Black finds that he might have more family left than he'd ever thought. Rated: Teen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Bazz-B, Harry Potter, and more Words: 21682.  Status: Incomplete

Okay, I cheated and picked a series.  Not my fault blackkat decided to make this universe a series of oneshots rather than a single entity and you’re certainly not getting me to only pick one of the five already published ones.  Bazz-B being a Black and also kinda a wizard is a brilliant concept, and having him adopting Harry is pure gold.  Not sure how crazy Quincy adopting poor, neglected Boy Who Lives works, but it does!

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A fic you’ve reread several times: The Guardian (Director’s Cut) by SGTBrowncoat (Naruto)

Itachi Uchiha receives his first mission in ANBU: protecting a certain trouble making Jinchuriki. He bonds quickly with the boy, but dark forces rise to threaten Itachi, Naruto, and those they care for most. Rated: T.  Canon-typical violence Characters: Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Shisui and more (includes Uchiha Itachi/Inuzuka Hana background pairing) Words: 35945.  Status: Complete

Back to my first ever fandom, here, and a really fun non-massacre AU fic, with lots of Itachi and Shisui goodness.  There are a fair few ANBU-looking-after-kid-Naruto fics but this is by far my favourite of them!  There is a sequel, but unfortunately it’s not finished and hasn’t been updated in a long time (I live in hope!)

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A fic you still remember many years later: While The Ring Went South by Thundera Tiger (Lord of the Rings)

What happened after the Fellowship left Rivendell but before they came down off Caradhras? Behold the missing scenes. Rated: K+.  Canon-typical violence Characters: Legolas, Gimli, Aragon, Gandalf, the whole Fellowship Words: 149624.  Status: Complete

I refound this fic completely by accident the other week, after first reading it (according to when I favourited it on FFN) in 2011!  It was just as amazing as I remembered, and is really the standard I hold all other LotR fics to, especially ones that involve the entire, pre-Moria, Fellowship.  It has a sequel but sadly that’s not been updated in some time (but again, I live in hope!)

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A comfort fic: There May Be Some Collateral Damage by metisket (Bleach/Harry Potter)

Ichigo’s been ordered to go undercover at a magic school to bodyguard a kid named Harry Potter, and this would be fine, except that he’s about as good at bodyguarding as he is at magic. And he considers it a good day, magic-wise, if he hasn’t set anything on fire. Rated: Gen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Harry Potter, Weasley Twins, and more. Words: 61209.  Status: Complete

I have no idea what this means by ‘Comfort Fic’ but if I want a laugh and Umbridge getting a pile of comeuppance, this is definitely the fic I’ll turn to.  As the A/N says: ‘sending Ichigo to Hogwarts is basically the same as swinging a wrecking ball directly into the side of the castle’.  Beautiful chaos is what we get.  Beautiful, beautiful chaos.

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A cathartic fic: See You Again by cookietosser (One Piece)

Rocinante has been through a lot in his life. Adding uncontrollable time travel into the mix? That's just the icing on the cake. Rated: Teen.  AO3 Violence and (canon) Character Death Warnings Characters: Donquioxte Rocinante|Cora-san, Trafalgar Law, Heart Pirates Words: 15755.  Status: Complete

You want to rip my heart out and trample it into lots of little pieces while still making it all better because Law and Rocinante?  Well, this little time-traveller’s wife AU fic is just the one for all that.  Sad moments, frustrating moments, happy moments, all wrapped up in this oneshot!

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A fic you’d print and put on your bookshelf: Thrower of the Dart by Vathara (Artemis Fowl/The Avengers)

What might have happened instead of Artemis Fowl book 6, if it'd happened in the Marvel Universe. Megalomaniacs ahoy! Rated: Teen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Artemis Fowl II, Tony Stark, and more Words: 101272.  Status: Complete

It’s long, it’s epic, and it would nestle in perfectly at home alongside my Artemis Fowl books on the bookshelf!  It’s not so much a rewrite of book 6 as a complete replacement of it, with a new plot and an all too familiar villain!

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A fic you associate with a song: Goodbye, Brother by Serena Estelle (Bleach)

Ilforte's final moments as I like to picture them-with his brother. Rated: T.  Canonical character death Characters: Szayelaporro Granz, Yylfordt Granz Words: 3073.  Status: Complete

Might be cheating, because the author actually names a song in their starting A/N, but this definitely brings to mind Exile Vilify by The National, and I fully recommend listening to that (on loop - there is a 10-hour loop version on youtube) as you watch this for maximum tear-jerking effect.

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A fic that inspires you: Magic of the Rose Cross by Awensweth (Harry Potter/D.Gray-Man)

In Harry's 4th year the Triwizard Tournament is brought back to live, but the appearance of a fourth mysterious school about which only Dumbledore seems to know brings new secrets with it for everyone. Who are the students of Rose Cross? Rated: Mature.  AO3 Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Harry Potter, Allen Walker, and more Words: 66632.  Status: Incomplete

I have been inspired by many, many fics, but I chose this one in particular because it was the main one that inspired me to join the HP/DGM Triwizard Tournament wave of the early 2010s - indeed, The Combat School is one of my most popular fics, but without this and other fics of the trope, I probably would never have written it!  That’s not to say I’ve copied this fic - aside from the base trope I tried my best to make my own work unique against the others, and hope that I succeeded!  Sadly, this fic is incomplete and hasn’t been updated for some time, but it’s still worth a read.

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A fic that brought you on board a new ship:  Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by MsChunks (Boku no Hero Academia)

Uraraka and Bakugo have a secret. It’s not what their classmates think it is. Rated: Teen.  AO3 Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Bakugo Katsuki, Uraraka Ochako Words: 182478.  Status: Complete

Putting Bakugo and Uraraka together was something I’d never considered, and I started this fic with some trepidation after a friend recommended it to me, but said friend has never steered me wrong with fics and didn’t start now!  Fake dating, Uraraka actually being badass, the most terrifying couple in class 1-A?  That’s this fic.

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A fic you wish could be a movie: Mission Impossible by Loopstagirl (Thunderbirds)

Being selected for his first solo mission should have been exciting for Captain Scott Tracy of the Air Force. But there was something else at play. Something dangerous and deadly. Something that could cost him more than his life. Rating: T.  Warnings: Violence Characters: Scott Tracy, Gordon Tracy Words: 55048.  Status: Complete

Air Force!Scott?  W.A.S.P.!Gordon?  On a joint mission together?  Yes, gimme, gimme, gimme.  Gimme Scott’s awkwardness alone on a boat of WASP personnel, gimme Gordon’s horror when he realises the suicide mission pilot is his older brother, and now give that all to me on screen!  And we can’t forget the Hood, of course!  Might be a bit higher rating than the current Thunderbirds stuff, but hey, I’m old enough.  Gimme.

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A fic that led to you becoming friends with the author: The Gabriel Project by Aceidia (Bleach)  - @thetwelvecaesars​

When Szayelaporro knew Aizen's reign in Heuco Mundo was coming to a close, he took matters into his own brilliant hands. He reincarnates himself and the other nine Espadas into a new life full of surprising turns and irony. Yet, the harmony and ignorance is not forever as they begin to remember. Rating: M (violence) Characters: Szayelaporro Granz, the Espada Words: 116030.  Status: Complete

Well, this fic sparked off a friendship that’s still very much there, even if neither of us write much for Bleach any more!  What started off as a challenge to identify who the Espada were turned into essay-length PMs about anything and everything, and then RP groups and now random emails about whatever at random times of the day (different timezones don’t help)!

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A fic you’ve gushed about irl: Living Like Kings by CLynnB (Thunderbirds)

The world wants to know more about the Tracy brothers. So Lady Penelope takes it upon herself to show the world just who they are. Through YouTube. Rating: Gen.  AO3 Author Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Lady Penelope-Creighton-Ward, Tracy Family (background Pen/Ink, Scayo, Virg/Brains) Words: 35348.  Status: Complete

I love social media fics like this one, and my poor boyfriend got the brunt of it while we were on holiday... he knows basically nothing about Thunderbirds except for what he’s heard from me (which is a lot because he’s amazing and lets me gush).  I mean, Tracy boys playing “The Floor Is Lava?” and tackling each other to the ground?  Gimme.

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A fic you associate with a place: Thunderbirds Meet Thunderbirds - Alan trip in to the movie verse by ak47stylegirl (Thunderbirds) @ak47stylegirl​

Crazy stuff always happens to Tracys, don't they?  Add felling into a different world to the list. Rating: Gen. AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Alan Tracy, Tracy Family times two Words: 25599.  Status: Incomplete

This might be a little random, but this fic was one that I found while I was ill on holiday to the Lake District last autumn.  Sadly, it’s the only trip there I’ve ever done where I couldn’t climb a single fell (and my car’s clutch burnt out after having to reverse up a pass... thanks bus coming the other way), and this fic’s updates while I was there kept me sane!  This has actually very loosely inspired a fic of my own which is in the making - which might get posted in the next year if I’m lucky...  Still waiting eagerly for this fic’s next update :D

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A fic that made you gasp out loud: The Colours Of The World by MaiKusakabe (Fullmetal Alchemist/Harry Potter)

When Roy Mustang went to retrieve his eyesight from Truth, he wasn’t expecting to end up doing a job in exchange. It couldn’t even be an easy job, of course, because Edward’s assessment of Truth was a pretty accurate one. Rating: Mature.  AO3 No Archive Warnings (but watch for canon-typical violence) Characters: Roy Mustang, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and more Words: 120578.  Status: Incomplete

Badass Roy yesss.  Twists and turns and Truth is a pretentious you-know-what but Voldemort’s even worse so where does that leave poor Roy except caught in the middle and very much a war veteran at this point... much to the horror of a few wizards!

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A fic you found at the right time: Seafaring Heartless: Exit North Blue by Avian Swallow (One Piece)

Pirates may be considered evil by the majority, but Law had met quite a few of the world's navy who were corrupt to the core and putting up a very thick facade. He reasoned that if he was going to manipulate and scheme his way into that goal, at least he was going to be honest enough to admit it. Rating: T.  Canon-typical situations Characters: Trafalgar Law, Bepo, Penguin, Shachi, Heart Pirate OCs Words: 159644.  Status: Complete

Is there ever a ‘wrong time’ to find a fic?  (a 100k+ at 4am debatable, but shh).  When I craved Heart Pirate content, this fic (and its sequel, still in progress but updating) appeared!  Only loosely clings to canon at the moment, thanks to some SBS revelations, but with well developed OCs to fill the faces we have no names or personalities for at the moment!

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A fic that you would read fic of: Only a Boy by Riddle Lee (Harry Potter/Merlin)

Merlin has changed Camelot forever but while that part of his life is complete, destiny has a new task for him. Now he has to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hide the fact that he's the Merlin, and defeat a Dark Lord that's messing with magic he knows nothing about. Rating: T.  Canon-typical situations Characters: Merlin, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, and more Words: 340998.  Status: Incomplete

An amazing universe with Slytherin!Merlin, no Harry Potter/Boy Who Lived, and the good old ‘hiding real identity’ trope to underpin the whole series.  Currently just into the start of Merlin’s third year at Hogwarts, aka “The Prisoner of Azkaban”.  This universe has so much to give, although Riddle Lee is doing a fantastic job at it.  It’s incomplete and slow to update but does update!

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A fic that made you laugh out loud: HOW’S THE COMA GOING by ossicle (One Piece)

Kidd and Penguin keep trying to murder each other and Law is done with their shit. He assigns them to take care of each other’s injuries so they’ll learn to get along. It doesn’t work. Rating: Teen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Eustass Kid, Penguin, Trafalgar Law (background KidLaw) Words: 2062.  Status: Complete

Oh this one had me in stitches basically the whole time.  Kid’s bedside manner should not be mimicked in the slightest, but a beautiful bonding fic in typical pirate fashion - beat ‘em up ‘til they have your approval.  Poor, poor, Law.

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A fic with a line (or two) that you’ve memorised by heart: On Their Side by Gumnut (Thunderbirds) - @gumnut-logic​

She trusted these boys with a great deal. Rating: Teen.  AO3 No Warnings Apply Characters: Colonel Casey, Virgil Tracy, Gordon Tracy Words: 1116.  Status: Complete

I think I have basically the entire thing memorised.  This one also falls into several other categories, most notably ones that made me laugh and ones that I’ve reread several times, but it really belongs here on this list.

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A fic that gave you butterflies: it’s a long way forward so trust in me by aloneintherain (Miraculous Ladybug)

Six times Marinette carried Adrien (plus one time he carried her). Rating: Teen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Adrien Agreste|Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng|Ladybug (all sides of the love square) Words: 5611.  Status: Complete

Aaah I have a weak spot for strong!Marinette and this fic ticks that box time and time again, with a side of blushing!Adrien and general love-struck Adrien/Chat.  I mean, what more could a girl need?

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A fic that embodies something you value in life: Team Itachi by Killer of thy Cookies (Naruto)

What if the Third Hokage stopped the council before they could order Itachi to commit the Uchiha Clan Massacre? Itachi is one of the village's strongest ninja, and has now been given the task of being a Jonin sensei, assigned to Team 7 with his little brother Sasuke, the 'dead last' Naruto Uzumaki, and fangirl Sakura Haruno. This is Team Itachi. Rating: T.  Canon-typical situations Characters: Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and more Words: 155092.  Status: Complete

(Yup, another non-massacre AU.)  Loyalty.  Honestly, there are so many fics that have loyalty in them, especially in fandoms like Naruto, where loyalty is a pretty big thing anyway (alongside friendship, of course), but this one is Itachi staying openly loyal to the village because Sarutobi actually saved the clan, and of course lovely bonds between the team!

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A favourite AU: A Son By Any Other Name by carryonstarkid (Thunderbirds)

Cursed as a child, Scott Tracy lives a life in which everyone he encounters must follow all of his given commands. Rating: Teen.  AO3 Chose Not To Use Warnings Characters: Scott Tracy, Tracy Brothers, Kayo Kyrano, and more Words: 83429.  Status: Complete

I rarely read AU fics - my preferred sandbox is the canon one, or a nice slice of canon diversion, rather than completely taking characters out of their home and dumping them somewhere entirely new.  This fairytale AU, however - reminding me very much of Sleeping Beauty except instead of sleeping it’s, well, what the summary says - is fantastically well done and addresses the strain such a thing would put on even the closest of family relationships.

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A fic you stayed up too late to finish reading: As N Approaches Infinity by Corisanna (Bleach/Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey had managed to contract the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs. Rating: Teen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings but watch out for canon-typical situations for both fandoms (especially Madoka) Characters: Akemi Homura, Kurosaki Karin, Kurosaki Yuzu, Urahara Kisuke, and many more Words: 465297.  Status: Incomplete

There are many fanfictions that have kept me up til dawn.  Many.  This one, however, has literally robbed me of all my sleep and I’ve still been unable to finish it in one sitting.  It’s good, the pacing is fantastic, and with Homura as our leading lady, that means those time resets really hit hard when they happen (and they happen.  They really, really, happen).  Might be incomplete, but is still updating - and there’s plenty to keep you occupied in the meantime!

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A fic that made you feel seen: A Seed Once Grown by Darkestwolfx (Thunderbirds) - @darkestwolfx​

Believe it or not, they did have a garden on Tracy Island. It looked a little like a… tip. And that was being kind. Rating: Teen.  AO3 No Archive Warnings Characters: Ned Tedford, Tracy Family Words: 4785.  Status: Complete

Okay, so I’m taking this literally because I spend a lot of time feeling invisible on the internet so having a fic written for me from someone I’d barely spoken to before was a whole pile of screaming.  Not that it’s the first time someone’s written a fic for me, but the other ones have been done by friends I’d already known for some time, and not someone in a fandom I’m just starting to find my feet in.

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Free space: whoo boy, fun time!  There are a few fics on the top of my head that didn’t fill any of the above prompts (or got beaten to the punch by another), so my wildcard space is going to be a few fic links without the extra detail because I’ve already spent about 12 hours on this to get to this point (did I get sidetracked and re-read a bunch?  You bet) and I’d quite like to also get some fic written today, too!

Eight-Day Week (JoJo Spotting) by TrufflestheMushroom (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

The Trouble With Eastern by teaandtumblr (One Piece)

Remembrance by ClioSelene (One Piece)

Legacy by MaiKusakabe (One Piece)

A Fleeting Smile by AnonymousTwit (Boku no Hero Academia)

Too Loud For Comfort by vaporeon_ninja (Boku no Hero Academia)

A Dragon’s Hoard by Chezka (Boku no Hero Academia)

Nine Lives by P_Artsypants (Miraculous Ladybug)

Chat’s Eye View (Love Letters To Paris) by Icka M Chif (Miraculous Ladybug)

Gabriel’s Lament by Chaotic Neutral (Miraculous Ladybug)

What The Cat Dragged In by Kyral (Avengers/Miraculous Ladybug)

Weekend Warrior by BlackDog_66 (Avengers)

Fitting In (Tiny Spaces) by aloneintherain (Avengers)

Autonomy by beetlebee (Naruto)

Great Minds by ScreamingViking (Final Fantasy VII)

Dear Kunsel by Sinnatious (Final Fantasy VII)

Cracks in the knight by authorettejasmin (Magic Kaito)

To Wrap An Elvish Princeling by Jael (Lord of the Rings)

There are more, many more, and I’ll probably post a few more recs around - you can also find some on my blog and I’ll try and get that updated with a few more at some point because there are many more than that!

[avanalae]

Skyfire

Title: Skyfire Fandoms: Batman (Preboot) & Katekyo Hitman Reborn  Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne,  mentioned Alfred Pennyworth Rating: Gen Pairings: None but you can see whatever you want in this ;) Warnings: mentioned but pretty blatant child abuse, angst and self-doubt, happy ending~  Wordcount: 5,383

_____

Tim has always been cold. Perhaps not outwardly, but inside. His heart feels frozen, like he is shattered, feels as if he's empty and the cold has crept into the crevasses left behind. 

He's missing something but he doesn't know what.

It tears him apart as a child. He struggles to make connections with other children. He fumbles and struggles, only getting such excellent grades through sacrifices and because he knows the consequences of not doing so.

He doesn't remember the last time his parents hugged him and he's actually fine with that. His father's arms were always weak and uncertain, giving him a feeling of passivity and discomfort. He doesn't like his hugs. Now, his mother…?

Janet Drake doesn't hug. She consumes, encapsulates. Her hugs are warm, a strange warmth that makes something in his soul cry out. But that warmth has a piercing edge to it, an edge that cuts at him at every touch. It burns and freezes and something in him hates it and that only makes it more aggressive. 

So as he grows he becomes more distant. It's not hard, what with all the trips they go on. But he becomes lonelier than ever.

He remembers one year. It was fall, the start of a new school year. He'd made a friend and there was something building in him, lightening his heart when they were around. He was so happy.

They came home from their latest trip and he knew he'd done something wrong when he looked into his mother's eyes. He just didn't know what.

They talked and caught each other up, Jack doing most of the talking. He couldn't help but brighten a bit when he started talking about his new friend. But a few sentences in he knew he'd made a mistake. 

Mother never showed her anger. That's what made it so terrifying. But Tim could see it - could see it in her eyes. 

A few days later his friend and their family had disappeared. Gone, left to chase a new job and move states. The school was sad about it for a while but Tim felt broken.

Something in him shattered and he couldn't find the pieces to put himself back together. 

So he didn't. 

And life went on.

_

Bruce is… hard to describe. He covers the city of Gotham under his proverbial wing and is fiercely protective of it. Of all the residents within, no matter their moral status. He drifts from day to day, finding better ways to strengthen himself and to improve the lives of his people. He's like a cloud covering the city, everywhere at once in some ways and always watching.

_

Dick is refreshing. His sunny and friendly personality draws people in and his kind and enjoyable words and mannerisms keep them there. He's like a soothing wind on a hot day calming and fortifying all at once. 

_

Jason. Jason is a storm - a forest fire, a flash flood, a hurricane. He burns, he smokes, he flares, he's there and he won't let anyone ignore him or forget him. He is kind but rough around the edges, a scruffy street boy hiding a heart of gold. When he goes out in a blaze of fire Tim despairs but finds it oddly appropriate.

_

Stephanie is attractive. She pulls attention to herself, all eyes upon her, and that makes Tim nervous. It's how she gets into such terrible situations with far too much frequency for Tim's comfort. She pulls him in, too, and his cold heart burns but it breaks once again when she's gone.

_

Cassandra is quiet. So quiet and calm. She's vicious, though. She was raised by Cain, after all, so it's to be expected. She hides in the shadows, dances through them. She avoids enemies with the finesse of a cat stalking its prey. When he's with her he feels like he sees more around them than he's seen before, his running mind is pulled in by hers and he calms. It’s easy with her because others see what she wants them to see.

_

Damian is a demon. No, he tries to put that aside. He is young and Talia was not good to him. How is he supposed to know better when that's all he's known? Because he can see it, he can see the gentle star hiding behind his loud, cruel words. He watches as his small hands treat animals with the greatest kindness. He sees his hands create and bring mere paper to life. He hides behind that terrible mask that is expected of him - except that it isn't and he desperately wants to free him from it.

_

Tim has always been unusually perceptive. If there's one thing his teachers notice aside from his intelligence, it's that. He knows many things. He sees and extrapolates and just knows instinctively what to do in certain situations 

It’s what kept him safe on the streets when he was following Batman and Robin. It has helped him more times in his career as a vigilante than he can count. This is one of those times.

Batman and Robin ran into Red Hood on a case, interrupting each other in handling the situation. The situation escalated when a certain villain arrived on the scene. When he heard from Oracle what happened, he knew. His mind screamed and he bolted towards their location.

It was the Joker. Because of course it was. Things are going terribly and Tim starts to panic. Then his body goes cold as the Joker points something at Jason and he leaps -

"No!"

They collide and Tim gasps in agony as the bullet tears through his armor into his side. He screams as something starts to burn inside him. There's something in the bullet - something terrible and it hurts it hurts it hurts but his very soul accepts it gleefully even if his body doesn't. 

He doesn't register anything except the burning, soul-wrenching pain. Not Joker's laughter. Not Bruce and Jason slamming their fists into the villain at the same time. Not Damian grabbing him by his suit and yelling. 

He's writhing, something's building in the air. It builds and builds until something gives and he screams, hands tearing at his chest uselessly before he's restrained by someone or something, not that he can register it.

His very soul feels like it's ripping the ever-present coldness away and he burns. He feels like he's on fire, burning away into nothing. It's terrible and all-consuming until-

There's a flash of red behind his eyes and there it is, a strand of red fire streaking through him to his heart and latching on. He's burning but there - oh, there - he's not alone. Warm, he's so warm and the red has tied itself to him and he whole-heartedly accepts. Drags it in, curling up in its familiarity and its fire.

He thinks he's stopped screaming, but he still can't move. Everything is dark except the orange-gold of his heart and the blazing red now connected to it. He is probably being taken somewhere. He thinks he's being carried. He wraps himself in red when he spies hostile, uncertain yellow and fearful, wrathful violet. He reaches out to sooth and feels their shock and surprise. But that's the last thing he remembers as everything fades away.

_

"-bound. We don't know how long, possibly his whole life."

"Oh god, really?"

"More than likely. The outburst nearly leveled the-"

He fades back out. 

_

There's someone holding his hand and it feels so right he wonders where it's been all his life. He struggles to open his eyes but it's a losing battle.

"Hey, it's okay Tim. You're safe."

I know, he wants to say. I know because you are here.

A thumb runs across his knuckles and he fades out again.

_

"Do you think he would… That he'd…" The voice groans in frustration, "Why is he so eager to accept me?"

"It's Timmy, Dami. I'm not that surprised though now I know more about the reason behind it." A huff, "though I guess the question still has some merit."

Blue and yellow. He wonders where red is before he sleeps.

_

He feels consciousness returning but it's a slow process. He's only aware that he's warm, at first, which in itself is unusual. Then he's comfortable. Then he feels a hand on his. It's much larger than his own, he notices.

"Come back to us, Tim." A voice murmurs so desperately that he tries. It's a struggle but at some point he opens his eyes just a crack. Its dim in the room but still bright enough to be uncomfortable.

He feels movement and there's a noise at his side. He shifts, and the hand on his tightens. "It's time to wake up, Tim."

"Br'c?" he manages a rasp.

"Yes Tim, it's me. You're at the manor in your room." Bruce's other hand comes up to rest on his forehead. He runs his thumb across skin, "Let's wake up now, if you can."

“I…” he sighs, half inquiry and half resignation.

Bruce runs his hand through his hair and he relaxes. “You’ve been out for about a week. You’re in your room in the manor.”

He stares at Bruce for a moment when he can open his eyes a bit more. “Y’r p’rpl.”

“What?” Bruce blinks, “Purple…? Oh.” He sighs and returns to petting Tim’s hair. “All in time, Tim. We will fill you in when you’re more awake.”

Speaking of being awake, Tim feels like he’s fading again. He tries to stay awake, tries to blink but his eyes don’t open back up. He wants to know, though.

“Hush, Tim. Rest. We’ll be here.”

As he falls asleep, he breathes out, “Jay…” The grip on his hand tightens.

_

Finally, after a few more close encounters with consciousness, he finds himself to really be awake. 

And no one is near. 

He can’t bring himself to sit up but he can at least survey his surroundings. It is his room though there are a few additions. There are remotes by his bed and he presumes at least one of them is some sort of call button but he doesn’t know. And IV drip is set up, connecting the saline bag to his left hand, the side away from the door. There are two comfy chairs set up on the other side. There’s even a table between them and on it is a steaming mug. 

So someone has left just a bit ago and plans on returning. He wonders who it is. 

His hand comes up to rest on his chest, as if to feel the warmth that burns inside him. He can feel it anyway, from the tips of his toes to his scalp. He feels warmer than he ever has before.

He sighs, reveling in it. Then startles when the door opens. 

It’s-

Jason.

Something in him aches and he finds himself reaching out before he can think about it. Jason notices and instead of mocking him or jeering as expected he nearly vaults over the chairs to his bedside and grabs his hands.

“Jay- Jay- Jason- Jason-”

“Shh, shh. Hey babybird,” Jason mutters soothingly, “Hey, I’m right here. You’re fine. I’m here.”

“Jay…” Tim sighs, something in him calming, “What… What happened?”

Jason pets his right hand, thumb running across the inside of his wrist as he gently maneuvers the other to rest at his side. 

“Well, first of all Bruce fucked up. But that’s not unusual.” Tim rasps out a chuckle and Jason grins. “There’s not just regular ol’ humans and metas in this world, Tim. Even regular ol’ humans have access to a certain power. A power based in our souls.” 

Tim gives a slow blink, trying to show his incredulousness and Jason laughs, “Yeah, I know. It is unusual, though, because it takes a near death experience and a strong will to live to draw it out usually.”

“Ah,” Tim concedes. “That… expl’ns things.”

Jason hums and makes circles in Tim’s wrist. “So, everybody has access to this power, but it comes in… let’s say different varieties. They are called flames and there are seven different shades. Sky, storm, cloud, rain, lightning, sun, and mist. Some are more rare than others but the rarest of all are skies.”

Tim feels Jason’s other hand start to play with his, but he’s too focused on the man and his words. 

“Skies are… everything. They have a special ability called harmonization and it can bring elements together with the sky as the center. They are strong and capable and many other things and that makes them dangerous. So many times a sky will be…” Jason clears his throat, “They’ll be in bad situations due to circumstances out of their control. People will try to control them, take advantage of them, blackmail them… It’s a terrible thing. But having a sky is most any flame user’s dream.” Jason looks almost wistful and he finally makes eye contact with Tim, who is starting to get the picture. “You… You’re a sky, Tim. A sky who… who was bound and hidden away.”

“Oh,” Tim sighs out, not sure how to react. It’ll likely take time to come to terms with it. He looks at Jason, who seems to have a hard time looking away from their hands. “You’re red. Do you have flames?”

Jason looks up and blinks in surprise at that. “Red? You can see them?”

“Mm.”

“I… hm. Have you always seen these colors?” Tim hums out a negative. “Okay, so a recent development. I’m, uh, I’m a storm. Storms have the, uh, the power of… Disintegration. That’s the name of it but it’s more complicated. Same with the other elements, they all have different abilities.”

Tim closes his eyes and just enjoys the attention and Jason’s voice. He’s uncertain, obviously, but Tim doesn’t really know why. He’s probably missing something. Hopefully Jason will mention it.

“Like I said earlier, skies have the power of harmonization and can draw in other elements, usually just six others, one of each type. Once they are bonded, nothing short of disaster or complete rejection can break it.” Jason is nervous, so obviously nervous so Tim turns his hand until their palms touch. He stutters out a breath. “I… when Joker shot you, the compound in it activated your flames and sent them into turmoil. I… I reached out to you as an anchor and you accepted me... “ Jason’s voice fades at that. 

Tim opens his eyes again and watches as Jason finds his words. 

“You just, you grabbed me and pulled me in with no hesitation and I…” He clears his throat, “We… We bonded. So I’m your storm. If you want me. If… I know we’ve had a rocky relationship. I understand if you want to- to-” Jason looks close to tears at this and it’s distressing so Tim twines his fingers through Jason’s and holds his hand. Jason swallows and stops talking.

“Thank you, Jay.”

Jason lets out a shuddering sigh and he brings their entwined hands up to rest his cheek against the back of Tim’s hand.

“Thank you.”

_

The next one to visit is Cass. She doesn’t move to wake Jason, who is sleeping with his head on his crossed arms, leaning onto the bed. It can’t be comfortable but Tim hadn’t wanted to wake him.

She smiles at him, coming to stand at his side. “Good?”

He smiles back a slightly more tired smile, “Jason explained a lot. I think I get most of it.”

Cass nods, then holds out her hand, “Can I be next?”

Tim blinks and looks to her hand, not demanding or hesitant, just there for Tim to accept or reject. He looks at her. “You’re indigo. Mist, right?” She nods, not moving her hand. He smiles more widely at that and reaches for her. “You’re the only one for the job, Cass.”

Their hands connect and they reach out, meeting in the middle as their flames curl together. He tugs and pulls a bit of her into his heart, holding her there. Adding a strand of indigo to his orange-gold inferno in his chest. He tugs her forward a bit so he can reach her from where he’s sitting propped up against the headboard.

He kisses her cheek and she kisses his, their hands clasped. They seperate enough to look at each other once again and they smile.

“Welcome home, Cass.”

“I am yours.”

Indigo burns in his soul of orange fire. 

_

He finds out that his flames have already claimed his family in a sense. While bound, they still fought and managed to “mark” them in a way. So with his flames free and if the other person is willing, the connection between them is instantaneous. Tim doesn’t push, would never push, but oh he wishes they would come to him. 

He wants them all so badly. 

_

Stephanie had been the next one to bond. They talked about it first, Tim making sure she knew he wouldn’t force it, resulting in several eye-rolls. 

“I know, Tim.”

“I just…”

Stephanie sighs loudly to stop him before looking down at her lap and twiddling her thumbs. She’s seated on the side of Tim’s bed, with Tim leaning against the headboard. He’s off bedrest officially but he still gets tired too easily. Tim Drake-Wayne is making careful appearances but Red Robin hasn’t been back on the streets yet.

“I never thought I’d have a sky, you know. I never thought that… That the option would be there. Staring me in the face, even.” She huffs out a bitter laugh. “I’m just the daughter of some criminal, worthless and with nothing to offer.” Tim tries to sit up to protest but stops on a choke when she raises her hand to stop him. 

“I know, Boy Wonder. But you can’t fix that way of thinking very quick.” With a quieter sigh she brings her hand back down to her lap. “I just… me? I’m not the best lightning out there, you know. There are plenty stronger out there that you could have. Stronger and better and just… more compatible. I just don’t want you to make a mistake.”

Tim stares at her for a while before leaning forward and reaching out to take one of her hands in his. She still doesn’t look up.

“Steph, we didn’t work out as girl and boyfriend. True. That may be because my flames were bound or just that we work better as friends. But we’ll never find out if we don’t try.” Tim rubs the inside of her wrist with his thumb like Jason did to him. “I don’t want another lightning. I want Stephanie. I want you.”

His other hand comes up to wipe away the quiet tears that fall fast from scrunched eyes. Her nose is running and her lip is trembling and there’s a softness in his heart when he sees it. It’s uncomfortable in this position but he leans forward to press a short kiss to her forehead. 

“Will you be my lightning? Be a part of my family? Be mine?”

She nods and sobs and her green fire joins the others, burning bright.

_

Things are going well, for sure. Jason and Stephanie spend a lot of time in educating him about flames and going over its relationship to the criminal and the civilian worlds, how flames affect superheroes and so on. Cass helps him learn how to access his flames, not how to manipulate - not yet, just to access. 

His ability to see flames is very unusual but not unheard of, and Tim wonders if it’s one of the reasons his mother sealed his flames. He knows it was his mother and he can accept it to an extent now.

It will be a long while before he’s over it, however. 

_

He hadn’t expected Dick to come around very easily. He hadn’t, to an extent, but after a few weeks he came back to the manor after some time away. 

It’s like he came in, dropped his things, and came straight to Tim from the looks of it. It surprises him. He sets his book down next to him on the table next to the comfortable sofa in the library. It’s a good thing he does because Dick strides over, falls onto the couch, and drags Tim onto his lap. He laughs at Tim’s helpless yelp and wraps him up in a tight hug. 

Tim melts.

Now with his flames unbound he can feel the tranquility and happiness that Dick practically projects more clearly. He’d felt it before but never understood it and now… Oh how Tim yearns. He sighs and relaxes impossibly more into Dick’s hold as the older man rubs his cheek against the top of his head.

They spend perhaps a half hour there, content and comfortable. Finally Tim can wait no more. 

“Why did you leave?”

Dick twitches and his tranquility seems to stutter. Tim doesn’t move and gives Dick time. He relaxes eventually and sighs into Tim’s hair. 

“I was scared. I…” Dick lifts a hand and runs it through Tim’s hair. “I’ve never considered having a sky before. I didn’t like the idea of being tied down in any way.”

Tim waits, trying to be patient when all he wants to do is protest. It’s like the situation with Stephanie and he hates that they feel this way. Wants them to know he’d do anything for them, even let them go.

Though he’s sure he’d break again, he’d let them go if they asked.

Dick must read something in his silence. “But you’re not like that, are you, Timmy? I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. You’re my baby brother and I shouldn’t have run off like that. It’s something we should talk about and I was just putting it off.”

Tim looks up as Dick shifts them until Tim’s sitting on his lap and they’re facing each other. “So Tim, What are you thinking?”

Tim takes Dick’s hands into his - it’s becoming a thing, he thinks, holding their hands - and holds them gently. He interlocks their fingers, “I want this. I want you as my family, as my rain. But I will not force you. If you come, I’ll be here ready and waiting.”

Dick smiles so softly at him that Tim can’t help but feel shy. They both tighten their grips and they chuckle together at that. 

“You’ll wait?” Tim hums and nods. Dick takes a deep breath and it comes back out in a whoosh. “Well you don’t have to.” Tim blinks and Dick raises their locked hands to his lips and smiles against them. 

With a sudden move Dick frees his hands and locks his arms around Tim once again, pulling him tight. “If you will have me, I will come.” 

And blue ties into his soul with the others, fitting in just right.

_

Damian is a little ball of conflicted rage. Tim does his best to not treat him much differently, though he is more patient. Damian doesn't know what to do with this.

It's the process of months of time and acknowledgement and patience before Tim can approach Damian without risking his neck. It helps in some ways when Damian walks in on him with one of his bonded. It makes him upset often in the beginning but patience wins out.

More often than not Tim invited Damian to spend time with him and whoever is with him at the moment. With Cass it's either spent sparring or doing each other's hair (it took a long while for Damian to be comfortable with that). Stephanie chats to fill the silence, not expecting answers but acknowledging them when they come. Jason teases and talks sometimes, but mostly drags them off to watch movies or read. Dick, of course, is all for cuddle time. Things mix up when Tim is with more than one of them, too, so there's always something happening.

So slowly they get Damian to open up and Tim is so happy with that. He loves the moments that Damian initiates interaction. His favorite things to do involve being creative or logical. Puzzles, drawing, things like that. Tim can't draw for the life of him but he tries for Damian.

One day he comes to Tim when he's alone. Tim smiles from where he's reading a case file on his tablet at the kitchen counter, mug of coffee at his elbow. "Hey, Damian."

"Good afternoon." Damian settles next to him on another barstool. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing well." And he is. He's fully recovered and is adjusting very well to his flames. Time Drake is out along with Red Robin. Things are wonderful now that he's warm and busy. He's not over certain things yet but he is hesitant to get counseling. "Things have been rather quiet lately, haven't they?"

Damian nods firmly, "Indeed. It has, perhaps, been too quiet."

Tim hums, mostly in agreement. It's hard after all these years to not expect the other shoe to drop at some point. "Here's hoping things don't escalate." Tim raises his coffee mug and takes a sip of lukewarm coffee.

They sit in silence for a bit, Tim on his tablet and Damian seemingly staring into space. Then Damian speaks up and hope starts to bloom in Tim's heart.

"Why do you reach out to me?"

Tim plays down the tablet and slides it forward enough to be out of the way. He doesnt turn fully to Damian but he makes sure his attention is fully on the young boy. "In what sense are you speaking of?"

Damian huffs and mutters, "All of them. Why spend time befriending me at all?"

Tim taps a finger on his arm. "Why shouldn't I?"

The boy practically emits waves of frustration. "Timothy, I tried to kill you! Multiple times!"

"Ah, yes." Tim props up his arms and rests his head in his hands."I don't blame you, is all."

"What?" Damian exclaims.

"I don't. Not really. You were thrust into an unfamiliar environment that you didn't know how to react to with a whole bunch of people taking up your father's attention." Tim's arms fall down to rest crossed on the counter again as he turns his head to look at Damian. You were well trained and you could wield a sword better than emotions and it was obvious."

"I-" Damian starts but it fades on his tongue. Damian has mellowed. He's still rather vicious but it's much more restrained. 

Tim looks away again, admiring the backsplash of the kitchen counter. "So no. I don't blame you and if I don't blame you, why shouldn't I give you a chance?"

There's another bit of silence but Tim merely sips at his coffee instead of going back to the tablet. This is a pivotal moment.

"That… that explains some things but you've been ready to accept me for years. Why?" Damian sounds so insecure and Tim's having flashbacks and is trying to keep his hands from grabbing Damian's.

"Believe it or not, I thought this way even before the… incident. So I've always been ready." Tim smiles, "There's not anyone else I'd want."

He tightens the cross of his arms to extend his left hand far enough to be an invitation. "I'm not gonna push, Dami. But I'll be here if you want me."

Damian looks up, a determined look on his face. "I swear to be the sun to your sky for as long as you'll have me."

Tim smiles softly, "Always, Dami."

Damian takes his hand and yellow streaks in to take its place among his family.

_

Tim had known the moment he learned of his bond to his family that Bruce was never going to approach him about it, if he approached Tim at all.

He's always been a stubborn ass even in the best of times.

Apparently it's a bit of a cloud trait.

But Tim has Alfred on his side.

_

"So, Bruce," Tim taps the pointer against his palm. "You're probably not wondering why I have you here."

Bruce is tied to a chair, drugged just enough to remain conscious but unable to move. Alfred had drugged his coffee and Jason and Dick helped move and secure him. They are standing to the side behind the chair, hiding smiles.

He whips the pointer to the side, the tip smacking against the projector screen to point at the title of his presentation.

The title is "Get Your Head Out of Your Ass."

It was Jason's idea.

He picks up the clicker and changes the slide. It's an outline. "First off I'm going to talk about how I'm not going to force you into bonding, which is different than drugging you to get you to listen to me." Bruce manages a scowl. Tim merely taps the points on the screen as he mentions them. "Then we'll talk about compatibility, then how just because you hate yourself doesn't mean your be bad for me. Then we'll go on to the benefits and downsides of a bond in the field and out of costume and the options we would have in public if we bonded."

Tim smiles at Bruce, "There are a few other little things I'll mention but I'll try not to be too long. We only have so much time, after all.

_

He makes it through the presentation before Bruce can escape so he counts that as a win. Now all Tim has to do is wait for it to digest while making subtle references and motions that will remind Bruce of their conversation.

He thinks it's going pretty well. Sometimes Tim will tap something against his palm and Bruce will flinch minutely. It's rather amusing.

What's not amusing is that it still takes Bruce three weeks to get the hint and approach him.

He looks grumpy when he walks up to Tim in the garden but he's not scowling so Tim is pleased. He just hopes Bruce didn't prepare some speech about how it wouldn't work.

He did. Of course. Tim glares his most frightful and unimpressed glare and Bruce shuts up. He nods in approval and gestures for Bruce to sit down on the grass with him. 

Once they're comfortable, Tim speaks up. "Stop fighting it Bruce. I understand your hesitancy but I can't condone it. If you really don't want the bond I won't force you, but…" Tim looks straight at Bruce, "You've never once said you don't want to bond."

Bruce's eyes widen just a bit as he realizes it. He hasn't.

Tim smiles morosely, "I've had enough time to gain some confidence in myself, Bruce, and I know what I want. I want my cloud to come home."

Bruce fights for words and Tim can see the denial on his face. So he scoots a bit until they're sitting face-to-face, cross-legged. He grabs Bruce's hands in his significantly smaller ones. 

"Don't turn away from me, B. Please. I need you just as you need me. I just want to make it official." He tightens his grip on his hands. "But this is it, Bruce. It's either yes or no right now because I can't allow this anymore. You're only driving yourself down and I don't want to be a burden to you. So say no and that will be the end of it. I'll leave you alone."

Bruce is staring at him, his hands trembling so lightly that Tim can barely feel it.

"Yes or no?"

"Yes. Please." Bruce closes his eyes and bows his head over their hands, bringing them up to press the back of Tim's against his forehead. "I- Yes."

Tim feels a wave of relief so great that he almost burst into tears. He tilts his head forward to rest his forehead against the top of Bruce's head. "Bruce, thank you."

He pulls back again, nudging Bruce until he's looking up again, watery eyes meeting.

"Be mine?"

"Forever."

Tim gently pulls violet into his heart.

_

There's a rainbow in his soul and he's never been better.

[gooddadstan]

Fuzzy Walls and Tired Eyes chapter 3

At some point in time, Tim finds himself standing in a graveyard. Staring at the headstone in front of him, he recognizes it as the one with the bodies of Janet and Jack Drake, not from the unreadable words on the grave, or the scenery around him, but from the voice in the back of his mind that tells him it is, and he accepts it. All of his training along with every cynical bone in his body is saying he shouldn’t, that he should analyze and confirm the reality of the situation, but he doesn’t remember how he came to stand here anyway and every single point is telling him it’s a dream, so he’s just going to go along with it and see how it ends up. Nothing better than standing in front of your parent’s grave, right? Besides, he already tried waking himself up and it didn’t work, so he’s stuck here.

In front of the grave, his senses are accosted by the smell of wet grass and the feeling of humidity in the air, stuffy in the dressy suit he’d most certainly not been wearing seconds ago. The shadows are longer than he’d remembered, unwavering and intimidating in a way they hadn’t been in a long while. An all too familiar sense of failure and shame swells up in his chest, as off to the side a scene plays out of him standing over his father’s body, unable to do anything but stare at the corpse. He’d never really mourned the loss of his father, in the end, not other than what little he needed to do publicly. He’d only mourned the loss of the relationship they’d started to form. God, what kind of son is he? The hot, empty tears that sent rage to his core swelled in his eyes, and then he’s being lifted up with a batarang to his throat.

The fabric of the Robin uniform’s cape tangles between his feet as he struggles for a second before forcing himself into stillness, hands clutched around the arm holding him up. The arm of his brother. Not that this was his brother, but the likeness was enough to send shivers down his spine. Though the real version did attack him all the same, later on in their lives, this one was not him, and thus cannot be associated with the real being. Of course not. Then why do the memories flood over each other, fear undue for actions not Jason’s but Clayface’s. Why does he still have to fight down defensive movement when the Red Hood approaches him on patrol, in the way that he doesn’t have to do with any other Bat. It doesn’t matter, he tells himself, it’s not happening anyway. With his newfound awareness of the situation and its faults, he could feel the ever so faint motion of clay as his captor pulled him close, shifting and yelling as the same as he had years ago. So as Batman formed in front of him, in that same stance with a vague panic hidden behind the cowl, he didn’t bother with the pleasantries of flailing around and trying to break free of the grip on his body. The words being spoken were inconsequential, and he only needed to wait it all out.

His stillness is interrupted by falling towards the grass in a practiced dodge, Batman sending a kick above his head. His uniform, Red Robin now, showed the diagnostics of Bruce’s disappearance even as Dick traded blows with him. The words spoken, full of venom, weren’t coming from him, instead floating into the air from nothing without changing the flow of the scene. To be called an equal then kicked aside and belittled, no trust in his words and pity in his eyes as he throws another punch. The sting of it hurt far more than the physical pain of his body. Unimportant, focus on the issue at hand, every nerve in him screeched, but his mind wandered elsewhere. And as his surroundings shift uneasily, from the red and white of a hightop as screams rang from ahead, to the empty halls of Drake manor sitting clean and proper under his small footsteps sounding rhythmically as he meanders, to the cold but home-like metals of Titans Tower with the sounds of laughter and chattering in distant rooms. He stands there a moment before sinking into his regular spot on the couch, warm and home in a way it hadn’t been since Bruce disappeared.

It only took a second after he’d let himself relish the calm for him to be punched to the ground. A fleeting glimpse of red, yellow, and green, conflicting with his own in the whirlwind his eyes are providing him. He huffs a sigh, falling back into the motions as he rises and gets hit again and again by the man he calls his brother. Jason, the real him now, angry and looming in an outfit meant to bring comfort and reassurance. Shouting about replacements, and asking questions the same voice from the graveyard answers as well as it can. A punch flies into his face before he can block it, and immediately he’s staring into the dark ceilings of the cave as he falls from the stuffed Tyrannosaurus. Damian’s smug expression stands unwavering above, watching as the green of his uniform and the dinosaur grows farther from Tim’s grasp.

Before he could hit the ground again, he found himself standing in a warehouse.

It wasn’t a particularly familiar warehouse, but it sparked enough recognition in his mind to not set off a panic. He doesn’t think he’d ever really been standing in this warehouse. Almost as if to adjust for that, his body snapped into pain, his Red Robin uniform scratched and battered like how he’d expect from coming out of an encounter with one of the A-list rogues, not a routine drug bust. But while he was about 90% certain he’d broken at least an arm before he was in this warehouse, there’s no marks on his skin, the new holes in his suit leading way to the normal pale skin contrary to the sting of pain in his limbs.

The floor sits as a dull metal, flecks of red across it from a few too many work accidents before the site was shut down. Normal. The walls, however, look like they’re made out of shag carpeting, appearing soft and inviting in a way that the walls of a warehouse really shouldn’t be. But no alarms go off in his mind, and he has to guess that this was commandeered by some weird villains in the past. Maybe they were dealt with on one of the gala nights he always hated attending. Would’ve thought he’d have come across it on his cataloguing of the Gotham villains, though. Reaching out to touch the carpeting, the softness of it goes through his gloves to his fingertips, and doesn’t fall away when he yanks at it. Instead, it draws him in with snaking tendrils of shag that envelops him easily.

What Tim saw next was best described as a Wonderland-esque clusterfuck.

People bustled around, occasionally popping from one part of the room to another and repeating tasks they’d already completed, talking and smiling and shifting their outfits and faces to be one person then another. They’d get into conversations with other versions of one person, cracking jokes about how ‘well one of us needs to change’ and then shifting simultaneously to a different person. The background kept changing, from warehouses to the Batcave to a bowling alley Tim had only been in once to do some undercover work. There were flowers sprouting in thin air, and writhing forms of matter twisting to try and be a solid object only to melt into an ocean of nonsense once more.

The rapid changing and confusion let growing around him, becoming louder and more crowded as glimpses of memories showed between people, right and wrong and both at the same time. It was starting to give him a headache. He could operate crowds, usually, his mother wouldn’t tolerate it if he couldn’t hold his own at a gala, but this was beyond any of the parties he’d been to. Too much chaos, too much indiscriminate noise, too much pushing and prodding and swirling existence. None of the rhythm he’d grown accustomed to with large groups of people. He wanted out, the pain in his body mixing with the pain in his mind until he woke up with a gasp.

Immediately, he recognized that he was in the cave. The dark ceilings high above his head were unmistakable. Irritation bit at his face and limbs, dull stings pulsing with his heartbeat. His left arm is immobile, along with his right leg, and he can feel the bandages tight where they’re adhered. He moves his unbound arm to his face, ignoring the objections of the IV sending some sort of fluid into his system, hand slapping directly onto an oxygen mask that shifts uncomfortably on his skin. Shifting his head first to the left, he sees the other beds in the medbay, empty and eternally prepped for quick transfer of patients. The medical cabinets sit off to the other side, lining the wall as orderly as ever. Turning his head to the right, where the chairs are when they haven’t been scattered from the movement of the assorted Bats, he sees four chairs, all empty.

He shouldn’t have been expecting someone to be there when he woke up. The Joker had been loose and the Bats needed to be prioritizing that. But it still stung, more than he’d ever care to admit, that nobody was even in the cave when he woke up. The increased beeps of the heart rate monitor was more than enough to act as an indicator for anyone outside the medbay, and the sounds of him hitting the oxygen mask and moving his head would do the trick even if a fluctuating heartbeat had been normal for his unconsciousness. It was normal for Bruce to sit and wait after patrol, or Dick to hover and mother-hen, or Alfred to sit with a cup of tea during what break time he gets. Now there was… nothing. It hurt, somehow, knowing that they wouldn’t deviate from their patrols to be there. It hurt more than any of the physical injuries he had. That was probably the worst thing, that for all the pain his body was in, he let some stupid guilt hurt him more. It was unprofessional.

Tim stayed awake for somewhere between a minute and a half hour, his mind too tired to keep count and no clock in sight. When he finally heard some shuffling out in the cave, his heart leaped at the thought of someone finally being there, and the damned machine betrayed him by saying it. Almost immediately, Alfred was in the medbay, and the guarded fearful expression melted into a kind half-smile covering a grimace. He felt guilty.

“Master Timothy, I’m terribly sorry I was not here when you regained consciousness.” Despite his mouth still open and taking in a breath to continue, Tim only raised a hand and waved it away. It’s not like it was Alfred’s fault, after all, he had a lot of responsibilities around the house. No use in making him feel bad for things he couldn’t change.

With a small pained expression, Alfred walks over and begins adjusting the IV stand just out of Tim’s sight. He could turn his head and look if he wanted to, but he was just so tired, and exhaustion was setting into his bones more every second. Maybe he should just… go back to sleep.

As his eyes droop downwards, more sluggish than normal, Alfred could only hope that this sleep would be a painless one. Tears never did make good background noise, in the end.

[timmydrcke-1]

CHARACTER NAME: Timothy Jackson Drake

FACECLAIM: Ryan Potter

CHARACTER AGE: 20

PERSONALITY TRAITS ( 2+, 2- ): intelligent, persistent, doubtful, paranoid

AFFILIATION ( TEAM, if relevant. ): Teen Titans, Batfamily

ABILITIES: 

Tim’s biggest strength often isn’t his fighting skills and abilities but his keen intellect. His advanced skills of investigation and deduction began before even becoming Robin, skills which have further been trained and honed working under Batman over the years. He also has extensive computer use and hacking skills. He also has genius level intellect which helps him in both his life as Tim and work as Red Robin. In order to become Robin, Tim also underwent martial arts training and is skilled in a number of different styles and has worked hard to master them to the best of his abilities. Still, Tim didn’t come into his role as Robin with the natural athleticism and skill as his predecessors did, meaning he’s had to work and train hard to gain the fighting skills he has. With all of the skills he’s gained though, Tim is still only human with no physical enhancements, a limitation against some enemies, though he has learned to out-think them where he can to try and gain himself and his team the upper hand.

CHARACTER BUILDING

EARLY LIFE

Tim grew up in a comfortable, wealthy home as the only child of Jack and Janet Drake. When he was little more than a toddler he was taken to Haly’s Circus and had a photo taken with the Flying Graysons, finding himself especially excited meeting Dick. That was the night Dick’s parents were killed, something he was unable to forget over the following years. When he saw Robin’s acrobatics on tape a few years later he was able to piece together the truth about Robin’s identity and subsequently Batman’s, starting him on the path to meeting his idols and, unbeknownst to him, becoming Robin.

ORIGIN STORY

It wasn’t until the second Robin, Jason, was killed by the Joker that Tim knew he needed to help Batman. The vigilante’s sudden change in behaviour convinced him that he needed to bring the original Robin back to his mentor, and sought out Dick - now Nightwing - to try and convince him to go back to Bruce. Once it was clear that wasn’t going to happen there was only one thing he could do - take up the mantle himself, proving himself as a valuable asset to Batman by helping him catch Two-Face. As Tim wasn’t as athletically inclined as his predecessors he had to undergo extensive physical and martial arts training in order to become Robin. It was a hard mantle to live up to, especially after Jason’s death, and while Tim did his best to earn it and hold onto it for a number of years, it was hard for him to live up to.

REGIME/INSURGENCY ALLIANCE

Tim will side with the Insurgency without a doubt. He would never be able to accept that killing villains and controlling the world with fear is the right thing to do, and is definitely not going to be shaken from that view. As much as he might care for some of the people on the side of the Regime and logically he can see the way they think, he will never be able to understand it or agree with what they’re choosing to do.

IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS:

Tim’s most important relationships are definitely those with his family as Bruce and the others gave him a chance to be something more, something he looked up to for a number of years before earning the mantle himself. He has a world of respect for Bruce despite their differences and disagreements, and appreciates everything Bruce has given him. Similarly, he has admired Dick since he met the other as a child and has trained with him extensively over the years. He also has strong relationships with those he’s worked with in the Teen Titans, especially Conner and Bart.

[amandajoyce118]

Ant-Man and the Wasp Easter Eggs and References

I never posted this. Whoops. Since I’ve been lacking on the six-sentence Sundays, have this instead.

Obviously, there are going to be spoilers for the movie. Since it’s been out for a while now, I probably don’t have to warn people about that, but… just in case, you’ve been warned.

(Also, I’m going to be honest, while typing this up, I realized it’s been so long since I made my notes, that I couldn’t even read some of them, so there’s probably a reference or two missing.)

The Original Wasp

The original costume that we see for the Wasp is muuuuuccch closer to the comic book costume than the one Hope wears. Funnily enough, her clothing in the Quantum Realm is also what she wears when stuck in the Microverse after being shrunk down because she was turned into a living bomb. Good times. Fun fact: Janet actually designed all of the Avengers’ costumes in the comics. She was a fashion designer in addition to being a scientist and a hero.

The Red Queen

On the wall of Hope’s childhood bedroom is a print of what looks like the Red Queen from Alice Through the Looking Glass. In the comics, the Red Queen is Hope’s supervillain name. Yes, she’s a supervillain in another universe.

Cassie

Cassie’s really good at the game to steal a priceless artifact for a little kid, isn’t she? In the comics, she becomes a superhero in her own right, and this whole sequence just made me think she’d be pretty good at it.

The Accords

For the reason Scott is on house arrest see Captain America: Civil War. Is this really an Easter egg at this point? I don’t know. But it was in my notes anyway.

X-Con Security Consultants

It’s not a subtle pun, but I love it all the same. It’s also a nod to the fact that when Scott gets out of prison in the comics, he also started his own security company.

“Snap your fingers.”

While Scott is learning about magic, he watches a video that features this line when discussing how to effectively use misdirection. Was this whole movie a big chunk of misdirection so that we didn’t think about the finger snap? Maybe. Was the finger snap itself some giant misdirection? Maybe. Who knows? I just like that it got a nod here too.

Agent Jimmy Woo

The FBI agent is a character from the comics. He worked for Agents of Atlas at one time, and later became the head of a school for gifted kids in Mumbai. (BTW, he’s also listed as a contact in May’s phone on Agents of SHIELD.)

Animal House

When Scott is being “kidnapped,” he was busy watching Animal House. Specifically, he’s watching a scene that involves Donald Sutherland theorizing about how small the universe really is.

Hank’s Cars

Much like his keychain of a tank he carried around in the first movie, Hank carries around a whole set of cars in this movie. He also carries around his shrunken lab. In the comics, he also carried a pouch full of things he shrunk down, just in case he needed them.

Sonny Burch

The guy dealing in black market goods exists in the comics. He was the chairman of Cross Technologies. We met Cross in the first movie. Funnily enough, the company used to be under Obadiah Stane. You might remember him from the Iron Man movies. (Geoffrey Ballard, the guy Sonny calls to give a tip about Scott and Hope to, is also a comic book character. He became the villain Centurion.)

Hydra Doesn’t Exist

According to the folks in this movie, anyway. Anyone who keeps an eye on the TV side of the MCU knows that Hydra is still kicking at this point in the timeline in the form of Ruby, her mom, and their soldiers on Agents of SHIELD. (No, those timelines might not exactly line up, but that’s probably pretty close to where we are.)

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is actually a mythical being, but it’s funny that this story is used in reference to Ghost. Why? Because there is a Marvel character named Baba Yaga. She was the Russian goddess of witchcraft and misfortune… and she also ran a branch of the mafia and set up base in Brooklyn because… why not? Ghost, of course, was also a character in the comics, but the story for the character has been completely reworked for the movie.

Elihas Starr

Father to ghost here, he’s also a comic book character. He was an atomic scientist who became a villain known as Egghead. He was once hired to kidnap the Wasp, amongst other things.

Bill Foster, Former SHIELD Agent

Bill was Hank’s lab assistant for a while in the comics. You know what else he was though? Husband to Claire Temple for a while. He also worked for Tony Stark. And he became a hero in his own right - Goliath. (BTW, Laurence Fishburne's son plays the younger version of the character in flashbacks.)

Team Caps

I’m sorry, but did anyone else find it funny that Hope and Scott decided baseball caps were how they would walk around without being noticed? It’s the same way Captain America and company try to stay under the radar. I guess it’s good Scott ended up on Team Cap.

The Chalkboard

I’m sure there are some Easter eggy things on the board that me, a non science nerd, wouldn’t catch. More eagle eyed fans will.

Project Goliath

Like I said, Bill was once a hero named Goliath. That’s also a code name used by Hank Pym when he was “Giant Man.” It’s also been used by other characters when they were supersized. It was also a project already mentioned by Tony Stark in one of the Iron Man movies when he was looking into old SHIELD projects.

“Janet was the one to endure…”

Bill says this about Janet’s working relationship with Hank. I found the wording purposeful. In the comics, Hank’s mental health disorders and experimentation with his abilities end up combining to create multiple personalities. One of them is Yellowjacket, who was abusive. His temperment in the MCU doesn’t seem to be all that different according to those who worked with him before.

“It’s them!”

Bill Foster says this when he sees a bunch of ants. Why is this a reference? Because it’s a shout out to the movie THEM! from the 50s. It featured giant ants. Hope, Scott, and Cassie, also watch it on a rooftop later.

Ava’s Place

There’s a nod to another Disney franchise in her home/lab. I spotted a Darth Vader helmet on one of her shelves.

Argentina

This is an interesting choice for Ava’s backstory. For one thing, we haven’t seen much of it in the MCU before. For another, the country is most often associated with Black Tarantula in the comics. Magneto has also gone after Nazi war criminals there, Maya Hansen (you remember her from Iron Man) has been kidnapped there, and portals to other realities have opened there. It’s a happening place on the page, so maybe we’ll start to see more of it on screen.

Truth Serum

The whole back and forth about whether or not truth serum worked reminded me of Skye being threatened with it on Agents of SHIELD in the pilot, only for it to be used on Grant Ward to gain her trust instead. It was made very clear that there was no such thing as a truth serum after the fact, but maybe there is.

Stan Lee

The 60s were fun, he says in his cameo. And he wasn’t kidding. It featured Jack Kirby’s psychedelic style, for sure. It was also definitely a good decade for Marvel. The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Daredevil all got their first solo titles that decade. (It was a good year for DC too. Poison Ivy and Batgirl both made their comic book debut during the decade.)

Tim Heidecker

You’ll recognize him as the boat captain from the big confrontation scene. He’s actually the co-host of a podcast. His co-host Gregg Turkington appeared in the first movie in a cameo as well.

The Infinity War Tie-In

Ant-Man ends up stuck in the Quantum Realm while everyone waiting for him outside dissolves into ash. This gives us an explanation for just what Scott was up to during the events of Avengers: Infinity War as the end of that movie is where we see all of that dissolving into ash. This movie apparently takes place over roughly the same time period, just like the last few episodes of Agents of SHIELD likely do as well, making this a very packed time period on Earth.

[headquartersforlievmuses]

► Damian Wayne

Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. This makes him an heir to the world's greatest crime-fighter, and its greatest super-villain Ra's al Ghul. Damian became the fifth Robin, working alongside Dick Grayson as Batman. Damian's existence was initially unknown to Batman. Genetically perfected and grown in an artificial womb, Damian was intended to be a formidable warrior. Raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, Damian became a talented martial artist by the time he was a pre-teen.

Damian was seen years later when Talia had him spy on Bruce with her. Talia revealed Damian's existence to Bruce Wayne at ten years old and left him in his father's custody in an effort to disrupt Batman's work. Precocious, spoiled, selfish and violent, Damian battled Robin (Tim Drake), whom Damian wanted to replace as Batman's sidekick, and sucker punched him off the T. Rex model in the Batcave. Grounded by Batman, Damian escaped, donned a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and assorted League of Assassin gear, and got into a fight with the villainous Spook, whom he decapitated. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seemed to genuinely want to aid Batman's war on crime as Damian saw himself as Wayne's true son though that remained unconfirmed.

Eventually, Batman confronted Talia, but both Talia and Damian were soon caught in an explosion. They survived the explosion, but a badly injured Damian required transplants of harvested organs, which his mother ordered her physicians to carry out. Damian made a full recovery.

Talia, Head of the Demon, takes Damian to the Australian Outback where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute.

Sometime after surviving Ra's resurrection, Damian had sensed that someone is out to get Batman. In response to this, Talia began to formulate a plan. It was later revealed that Bruce Wayne had performed a DNA test on Damian to determine any blood connection between them. After learning of Batman's disappearance, Talia took Damian to Wayne Manor, where they deactivated a series of traps and saved Commissioner James Gordon in the process. Damian rescued Alfred from a burning batcave and the kid took the Batmobile, driving it to Arkham in order to aid Batman against the Black Glove. On the road, Damian knocks an ambulance off a bridge, much to Alfred's dismay.

After Batman's apparent death, Damian was left in the care of Alfred Pennyworth and trained by Dick Grayson.

While Gotham was drowning in chaos, crime and corruption, Damian was joy riding in the Batmobile with a friend when Oracle called him to send him on a mission to the Gotham Harbor. Oracle took control of the car, but Killer Croc and Poison Ivy attacked the Batmobile and Croc knocked the car off the road into a stream. Damian was terrified and tried to talk his way out of the situation, but Croc was about to eat Damian until he was saved by Nightwing, who used the Bat-Glider to take Damian out of danger. While they were flying, they were shot out of the air and upon landing they were quickly surrounded by Black Mask's goons. Suddenly an impostor Batman appeared and shot the criminals, killing them all. Dick fought the impostor, who was revealed to be Jason Todd. Jason shot Damian in the chest and Dick took Damian back to the Batcave, where Alfred healed Damian's wounds.

Despite working as Grayson's Robin, Damian expresses a strong willingness to take over the Batman identity himself if Dick is not "up to it." Damian has no respect for Grayson, and tells him that he needs to earn it if he wants his respect.

It is revealed that Damian has begun to visit his father's former friend and enemy Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, in the prison at the top of Wayne Tower that Dick and Tim put him in, and engages him in chess games. Damian claims that these visits are out of his curiosity for why Hush would alter his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne's. But Hush suspects that the visits are rather Damian's form of grieving for Bruce and a way to "spend time with your old man."

It appears that under Dick's teachings, Damian has begun to grow a conscience and has even demonstrated signs of empathy, particularly towards children. This is demonstrated by his behavior during a mission with the new Azrael and more recently during a Christmas case, in which Damian and Dick find the bodies of several dismembered kids, causing Damian to vomit in horror.

Damian also becomes involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members during one board meeting led by Lucius Fox. He manages to track down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises accounts, intimidating the board of members along the way. The board becomes impressed that the young Wayne has such impressive business capabilities despite his young age, apparently inherited from his father.

After Tim Drake is revealed to have named as Bruce Wayne's heir in accordance of his will made prior of his disappearance, Damian has filed an injunction with the boards to against Drake since he is Wayne's son.

After Bruce's skull was taken from his grave, Damian and Dick decide to bring the rest of his skeleton, along with those of Damian's paternal grandparents, to their base beneath Wayne Tower. Damian is quite shaken by the sight of the bones of his family. On the way to the cave, Dick's body is possessed by Deadman, whom Damian lashes out at in confusion. Deadman then possesses and leaves Damian's body, subsequently passing his knowledge of the attack of the Black Lanterns onto him. The two heroes then prepare for the Black Lantern's assault on Gotham. After raiding the Army Reserve National Guard Armory, Dick, Damian, and the arriving Tim Drake, are able to save Commissioner Gordon, Oracle, and the surviving police officers at Gotham Central from the reanimated versions of the original Dark Knight's deceased rogue gallery members. However, they then find themselves having a horrific encounter with Batman and the Red Robin's parents - the Flying Graysons and Jack and Janet Drake - reanimated as Black Lanterns.. Dick and Tim send Damian with the Gordons to their underground base while they battle the Black Lanterns. Dick eventually orders Damian through their comm-links to send one of his Wingers with Mr. Freeze's gun. Grayson uses the weapon to cryogenically suspend himself and Tim, forcing the Black Lanterns to retreat as they are unable to read any sign of life of them. Deadman later revives the former Boy Wonders.

Talia begun to clone Damian as she has realized that her son has completely sided with Dick Grayson and the Bat-Family. Damian finally stands up for his Robin mantle, telling Talia that being Robin was the best thing that he had ever done, and Talia does not need to save him from something he chooses to be. Talia then shows Damian the cloned version of himself, whom she sees as Damian's younger brother. Talia admits to Damian, that even though she loves him, he is no longer welcome and is now considered an enemy of the House of al Ghul. Damian defiantly replied that he hoped that he would be a worthy one. Damian (as Robin) is then seen teaming up with Batman and Alfred to begin the search for Bruce Wayne.

Dick Grayson eventually sees that Damian requires friendship and compassion in order to curb his harsh methods. So Grayson takes Damian to Titans Tower, where Damian, despite not being a teenager, takes steps to become the leader of the Teen Titans. His first mission ends in disaster after a super powered teen, who was using his powers in revenge for being bullied, is attacked by Damian after Raven is able to calm him down and the teen lashes out and escapes.

Upon his return to Gotham, Grayson notices that Damian's time with the Titans has made him more patient and he is less prone to use his weapons. After apologizing to Damian about his time with the Titans being a bust, Damian states that he knows Grayson sent him there to find friends but "[he has] one in Gotham and that's more than enough" implying that Grayson is the only friend he will need.

Bruce and Damian begin patrolling together as Batman and Robin for the first time. Bruce tries teaching Damian about the sanctity of life, but has trouble relating with his son. Damian begins showing restraint, which Bruce commends, although Alfred still criticizes him for not being supportive enough. Bruce buys Damian a dog named Titus to teach him compassion. They were both targeted by a super-villain named Nobody. They are kidnapped by Nobody, who tries to show Batman that his no-kill methods are ineffective. He encourages Robin's darker side and tries to take him as an apprentice. Robin angrily leaves the Batcave to work with Nobody, who asks him to execute a criminal. Robin reveals that he was lying, and refuses to betray his father. Nobody decides to torture Robin, continuing his personal vendetta against Batman. When Batman discovers their location, he beats Nobody mercilessly. Nobody swears that he will return and kill their friends, so Damian shoots and kills him. Instead of growing angry, Bruce reacts with compassion. When Damian gets out of the hospital, they talk about how difficult it is to adjust from the life of an assassin. Despite their differences, they play with Titus and enjoy spending more time together as father and son.

Bruce and Damian begin working together against his mother Talia, revealed as the head of Leviathan. During a fight in a meat factory, he converts to vegetarianism and adopts a pet named Bat-Cow. He is believed dead when he was shot in the head by an assassin named Goatboy. It was revealed that Talia has created another clone as his replacement, the obedient fully-grown Heretic. Robin is shown to have faked his death, and is confined to the Batcave at Batman's orders. To avoid the bounty on his head, he begins using the name Redbird and switches to a new costume. This allows him to team up with Jason Todd, who is using the Wingman identity. They work together with Batman Incorporated to take down the League of Assassins' top killers. However, Batman tells Damian he has to quit crime-fighting altogether. Bruce reveals that he has seen Damian's future, as told through "Batman in Bethlehem". If Damian does not retire, his actions will lead to a plague that forces the President to nuke Gotham. Batman Incorporated fights Leviathan in the streets, while Damian is forced to stay inside. Alfred Pennyworth gets him a cat to take care of, who he also names Alfred. Damian refuses to stay home while his allies are dying, and Alfred allows him to leave knowing he cannot be stopped.[48] He flies his exo-skeleton into the center of the battle, where Leviathan has taken over Wayne Tower. He neutralizes the child soldiers, and teams up with Dick Grayson to take down the remaining assassins. The Heretic flings Grayson aside, and challenges Damian to a sword-fight. Despite his bravery and refusal to give up, Damian is impaled through the chest and killed.

After various trials and tribulations involving his corpse, mainly revolving around Ra's al Ghul and Apokolips, Batman managed to rescue his son's body and, though using the Omega Sanction infused within a Chaos Crystal shard, brought Damian back to life within the Batcave.

On his 13th birthday Damian is sent a package by his grandfather Ra's al Ghul, which contains a dead Robin. After a meeting with his mother Talia, he discovers that it is a warning from his cousin Mara al Ghul, who has chosen him as her prey as part of an initiation ritual she must undertake in order to properly join the League of Assassins. Mara has been made leader of a group known as the Demon's Fist, which was originally supposed to be lead by Damian but became hers when he chose to leave the league. They too have chosen targets that they must hunt down in order to ascend to the league, Damian descides to collect the other Demon's fist's targets in order to form the new Teen Titans; this includes Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven and Kid Flash.

While searching for a tree for Christmas,  Jonathan Samuel Kent accidentally torched some woodlands near a swamp in Hamilton. He was subsequently rescued by Maya Ducard aka Nobody and Goliath. Jon later awakened in the Batcave and found out that Robin had been keeping him under surveillance for a long time. The two initially did not get along, and the situation was further complicated when Batman and Superman arrived, blaming each other for the conflict.

Powers 

Archery: Damian asserted that his training with the League of Assassins gave him greater mastery of the bow than even Green Arrow.

Artistry: Damian is considered as skilled with a brush as he is with a sword.

Business Management: Trained by his mother and the League of Assassins in the way of controlling a company with an iron grip. Even as a young boy he knows that in business there are wars and even in war there are assassins. Damian is involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members. He even intimidated the board members by tracking down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises' accounts.

Disguise: Damian has disguised himself as an elderly busdriver and a substitute teacher.

Driving: He learned to drive at the age of five.

Martial Arts: Trained by the League of Assassins, Damian has stated he knows just as many martial arts as Batman and can use them more effectively. This may be a largely overstated comment but one should not ask for verification. Damian may not be physically tough but he knows how to control his weight and has stated that he knows, "one thousand ways to kill a man." Damian's training has made him a formidable hand-to-hand combatant able to defeat or hold his own against multiple opponents, armed opponents or skilled hand-to-hand combatants.

Genius Level Intellect: Damian has inherited a genius IQ from his father.

Mimicry: Damian can imitate anyone's voice and speech patterns perfectly as he imitated Tim Drake's voice in order to gain access to the Batcave.

Peak Human Condition

Pedagogy: He once taught a geology class for a day at Jon Smith's school.

Stealth: Damian was able to sneak into Gotham City and furthermore into the Batcave virtually undetected until he felt necessary. Of all the Robins, Damian may be the one that is the most silent.

Swordsmanship: Damian assaulted both Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne on separate occasions with his sword, apparently the same sword used by Ra's al Ghul. Although Damian no longer uses his sword he may be unmatched with one if armed correctly.

Throwing: Damian is trained by the League of Assassins in shuriken throwing and further trained by Batman in Batarang throwing.

Arrogance: More often than not, Damian believes himself to be better than he is, this has allowed him to underestimate opponents as well as irritate his allies.

Damian has declared himself a vegetarian.

Damian has a strong love for animals. Pets he has owned include Goliath, Bat-Cow, Titus (dog), and Pennyworth (cat).

Verses

tba

[billyagogo]

Molly Byman says she did not nap before Tribal Council on <em>Survivor</em>

New Post has been published on https://newsprofixpro.com/moxie/2019/10/03/molly-byman-says-she-did-not-nap-before-tribal-council-on-survivor/

Molly Byman says she did not nap before Tribal Council on Survivor

Molly Byman was sitting pretty. Little did she realize where she was sitting was on the hot seat. Molly was perceived as being part of a power trio alliance with Jamal and Jack on Survivor: Island of the Idols that appeared to be running the Vokai tribe. Combine that with Molly’s looks and charm — even at one point being compared to Survivor legend Parvati Shallow — and the 27-year-old law student became a big target and the first person voted out of the tribe.

How did it all go so wrong, so fast? Did she and her alliance really nap before Tribal Council? And what happened out on the island that we did not see? We asked Molly all that and more, including if she feared for her life as she was attacked by a giant clam and repeatedly fell from a ladder into the ocean. Read on to hear what the ousted castaway had to say.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What happened, Molly? Why did it all go wrong for you?MOLLY BYNUM: Well, obviously I did not see it coming at all. I think the biggest thing that went wrong for me is that I didn’t really commit to the relationships that I thought I was building — specifically people like Kellee and Janet. I thought I had a really great relationship with them, but I think they didn’t fully believe that I was with them and they saw me more with the guys. And I think if I had kind of solidified that earlier, they would have come to my defense a little bit and we could have swung it my way.

It appeared like you all thought you were being much more stealthy about your power trio alliance than you actually were. Did you think you were keeping that under wraps better than you actually were?I think we didn’t think that we were in a power alliance. We spent a lot of time at camp as an entire group. All three of us talked to a lot of other people. Jack went around and asked every single person what their dream job was and had full conversations. Jamal put more work into the shelter than anyone else. I had conversations with a lot of people and led a lot of group games, things like that. And I think that we were given that label and honestly were surprised by it. And even after the show, we were like, “People thought this?” because we didn’t see that. We wanted to work in a group and specifically with Tommy and Janet and Kellee and Jason. So I think we were kind of surprised at how much that was presented as being this power threesome.

And I guess it was ultimately the Tommy and Kellee votes that could have potentially saved you, but then they went as a block to the other side.Yes. And one of my biggest issues is when I connect with someone I’m very confident in it and I’m like, “Okay, we get along. We’re similar. This is great.” And I felt that with Kellee, and I think Kellee felt flickers of that with me. But she was more nervous and a little more paranoid and didn’t think that I was fully behind her when I would have been loyal to her. I didn’t want to go to the end with Jack and Jamal and it wasn’t shown, but I made that pretty clear to even Jamal and certainly to Kellee. So I think that if I had been more forthcoming in showing that, whereas I was just sitting back a little bit more, then I think that could have positively influenced Tommy and Kellee and I think Janet would have had to be looped into that group as well.

Well, if you didn’t want to go to the end with Jamal and Jack, who did you want to go to the end with? Did you have specific people in mind or you just knew, “Hey, I’m gonna have to cut these two before they cut me?”I viewed it as getting to the final six. I viewed it as: I want to surround myself with people who are going to be perceived as threats because I will be perceived as a threat. And, to me, they were included in that group.

Inquiring minds want to know, Molly: Did you take a nap before Tribal Council?I did not take a nap before Tribal Council! Because you know they would’ve showed it if I did. And actually, I did not nap ever. I was sleeping at night, which I think is a healthy practice on Survivor and in life. Was Jamal napping before Tribal Council?Evidently, but I didn’t notice. Jamal worked harder than anybody else those first few days in the shelter, and constantly repairing the shelter. So I think any nap you took was more earned.

Molly, you did not appear to get along with Noura well at all. What was it like living with her out there?I think watching the show gives you a very good idea of what living with Noura was like out there. Okay, explain that. Because we saw the one montage of her doing lot of complaining about the work ethic of the tribe and coming down on people, and she really was coming down on you for what she perceived as sleeping in. Was it like that all the time?So Noura and I are obviously very different. I did not have a problem with Noura at all in the beginning. I was told on day two or three by both Jason and Jamal that she had some very strong feelings about me, and it was a surprise to me. I was like, “Oh, okay.” I didn’t know what I did at that point. And then I think being on the outs is stressful for anyone, and it’s how you respond to that.

And when Jason was on the outs, he realized he was on the outs and the next day he went and made personal connections with everyone and got himself into a better position. I think Noura found herself on the outs and then she made up a few different stories and she was running around. She was complaining a lot about people. She obviously was complaining a lot about me. And she talked a lot, which you saw. I think. But she’s a great person. We’re totally fine, but living with her was like what you saw on TV.

I can tell by the way you’re talking that she annoyed you.Yes. At night, she would talk, and in the morning, she would talk. She would complain, she would open a lot of coconuts. I think there are not any coconuts left in Fiji because she would open them all and then pour the coconut juice into my mouth. I was like, “I don’t want coconut right now.” But she very much means well.

You said after you were voted out that you were completely blindsided and shocked and flummoxed and everything and so they must have done a good job keeping the vote against you under wraps. Did you pick up any vibes or any clues after the fact? Was there anything where you were like, “Oh, maybe I should have been more attuned to that at Tribal”?So at Tribal, there were a few moments that raised an alarm. It made me think that I needed to have some conversations, specifically with Lauren. She said one comment that I was like, “Wow, I need to go talk to her a little bit more when I get back,” but everyone hid it extremely well. I had no idea. In hindsight, of course, I noticed two specific moments from Dan that where if my vibe was feeling paranoid, I feel like I could’ve picked up on this. But these are just some small things that you don’t think about a lot of time.

One of them was, we were playing charades the night before and he gave me Gone with the Wind. So later I was in Australia and one morning and I woke up and I was like, “Oh my God, Gone with the Wind. He did that as a joke and I was gone with the wind!” So that was one moment that I’ve noticed. And then also a Tribal, when Dan said, “We’re not voting for the most annoying person. We’re doing chess, not checkers,” I think I even made a little bit of a face at that point because I was in my head we were voting for the most annoying person. So those were two moments. But, man, Janet and Kellee had me fooled.

Listen, no one wants to be the first one voted out of their tribe, but being compared to Parvati Shallow, that’s not so bad, right? I mean, I guess that’s ultimately what got you out so it’s not so good, but at the same time you’re being compared to a legend.Totally. I said in the very beginning that I feel like I’m playing similarly to Parvati, who is one of my favorite survivors ever, I don’t know what she did that made people not like her and consider her a villain other than being a woman who won. But I think she’s fantastic and that is the highest of Survivor compliments.

We saw Kelle come back from Island of the Idols and share this story about having to pick an urn and offering to strip down to prove she didn’t have an idol. Did you buy her story?She actually asked me this recently and I’ll tell you what I told her: I was very confused about why she was crying. It made me very skeptical of her as a person, but I generally believed the story that she didn’t get anything. I definitely thought that she learned about the theme in a way that she didn’t express to us. I was like, “There’s no way she went to Island of the Idols and is still just as clueless about what this season is all about.” But I did not think that she had an idol.

Did you fear for your life when you were at the top of that ladder during the challenge and you felt it starting to fall?No, not at all. I actually had the biggest bruise I’d ever had in my entire life from those falls. I think on one of them I landed on the ladder, and my entire side within the next two days was black and blue. But in the moment, it didn’t even hit me, and then obviously there was an impact. But in the moment, I was just frustrated that I couldn’t reach the top.

Why were you on that ladder? Did you volunteer, or did they say, “Molly would be good for this”?We did not realize how heavy the ladder would be. In the pregame questions we were asking we were under the impression that the ladder would float to the top. Once we got it in, we should have definitely put more another man in the water pulling the ladder because it was just too heavy. I did not volunteer. They said, “Molly, why don’t you do the ladder?” And I was like, “Okay, sure.” I think we were deciding about how heavy the ladder would be and thinking maybe Jack would go up. But then once we realized how heavy the ladder was, I was the choice.

What did not make it into TV that you wish we had seen about your time out there?I liked the episode. I don’t think there’s necessarily anything I wish we made it on TV, but on day 4 it did rain the entire day and we basically had to stay in the shelter and kind of huddle up under there. But we totally made the best of it and we were playing different word games and getting to know each other and talking. And I think that’s one scene — especially as it was being a little bit presented like I was this mean popular girl, which I’m not. That’s one scene that showed a lot of group bonding that I cherish as a memory. I don’t know if it needed to make TV, but it’s something that I feel very positively about.

If you could go back and change something about your game, what would it be?I would’ve sat down and had a long conversation with Janet and Kellee and talked to them, because I think ultimately the three of us could have been really powerful together. I think we have similar approaches to the game and could have been really great and I regret not kind of solidifying that earlier. I was trying to be under the radar and go with the flow but evidently I was not under the radar at all.

Finally, we saw you attacked by a giant clam out there. How harrowing an experience was that for you?[Laughs] I am probably going to see that replayed a lot of times in my life. I tweeted after that squirted is better than snuffed. And I think that’s how I felt about it. I didn’t care. It was fun. Enjoy an exclusive deleted scene at the top of the article. Also make sure to read our episode recap and weekly Q&A with host Jeff Probst. And for more Survivor scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.

Jeff Probst leads adventures in the ultimate (and original) reality series. type

TV Show

seasons

39

Genre

Reality

Premiere

05/31/00

creator

Charlie Parsons

Performers

Jeff Probst

Network

CBS

Complete Coverage

Survivor

Available For Streaming On

Episode Recaps

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S39 E2 Recap

Survivor: Island of the Idols recap: No time for nap time

By Dalton Ross

S39 E1 Recap

Survivor: Island of the Idols premiere recap: The game begins

By Dalton Ross

S38 E14 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction season finale recap: Did the right person win?

By Dalton Ross

S38 E13 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: Devens puts on a show

By Dalton Ross

S38 E12 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: Beware the loved ones trap

By Dalton Ross

S38 E11 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: A war on Wardog

By Patrick Gomez

S38 E10 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: War declared on returning players

By Dalton Ross

S38 E9 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: Tribal Council goes bonkers

By Dalton Ross

S38 E8 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: A family (visit) torn apart

By Dalton Ross

S38 E7 Recap

Survivor recap: Two people quit Edge of Extinction

By Dalton Ross

S38 E5 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: Revenge of the newbies

By Dalton Ross

S38 E4 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: Tribe swap till you drop

By Dalton Ross

S38 E3 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap: Food for thought

By Dalton Ross

S38 E2 Recap

‘Survivor: Edge of Extinction’ recap: The edge of quitting

By Dalton Ross

S38 E1 Recap

Survivor: Edge of Extinction premiere recap: What you didn’t see on TV

By Dalton Ross

S37 E13 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: Balls of Fury

By Dalton Ross

S37 E12 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: Gabby makes her big move

By Dalton Ross

S37 E10 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: Sitting this one out

By Dalton Ross

S37 E9 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: Feast on the drama

By Dalton Ross

S37 E8 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: Idolpalooza

By Dalton Ross

S37 E7 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: The danger of jury management

By Dalton Ross

S37 E6 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: Hope is not a strategy

By Dalton Ross

S37 E5 Recap

Survivor: David vs. Goliath recap: The jacket or your life

By Dalton Ross

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[doctorwhonews]

Torchwood: Instant Karma (Big Finish)

Latest Review: Writers: James Goss, David Llewellyn, Jonathan Morris Director: Lisa Bowerman Featuring: Naoko Mori, Jonny Dixon, Sara McGaughey, Duncan Wiseby, Ross Ford Released by Big Finish Productions - July 2018 Order from Amazon UK “That feeling…it felt amazing.” “I know.” “We could do anything, couldn’t we?” It was only a matter of time. Between its mother show’s satirical coverage of the subject in “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” and the franchise’s recent deconstructions of classic sci-fi tropes such as artificial intelligence (Cascade), cult conspiracies (Believe), and nihilistic escape rooms (Aliens Among Us Part 3), Torchwood always seemed inextricably bound towards tackling society’s rabid superhero mania. Case in point: avert your eyes from the screen of whichever digital platform you’re consuming this review via right now and look up into the sky. See that mythical figure descending from the heavens, like the Greek god Icarus with his majestic wings of old? That’s not a bird, nor a plane, nor even the Man of Steel himself – introducing Instant Karma. Rest assured that the following verdict won’t comprise simply of genre puns, though – partly because iconic adages like “with great power comes great responsibility” sound rather dated in the age of social media influencers / trolls / politicians, but moreso because this reviewer would sooner renege his profession than get on the wrong side of Karma’s three-strong writing team. If Family Guy’s Peter Griffin took to Quahog 5 News’ TV airwaves to “grind his gears”, then Torchwood range regulars David Llewellyn, James Goss and Jonathan Morris evidently selected audio drama as the ideal medium to do so; from pesky stragglers holding up the queues for ATM machines to ignorant railway passengers incapable of wearing headphones, from far-right politicians to Cardiff-based secret agents sticking their noses where they oughtn’t be, the axes are well and truly out in a vengeful hour of unrelenting bestial fury… Just kidding! But odds are that we’ve all bemoaned at least one of the bugbears mentioned in the previous paragraph, thereby confirming how brilliantly the three wrights channel commonplace social tensions into a painfully believable tale of tragic hubris. The aforementioned persistent agent, Toshiko Sato, has her hands full as ever, with our scribes throwing nuanced moral dilemmas aplenty in her direction as she investigates the emergence of a seemingly superhuman community group capable of murdering their irksome victims with but a single malicious thought. Might we justify such grievous violence if directed at the ‘right’ target? Is it always fair to blame up-and-coming ‘vigilantes’ for the unforeseen consequences of their actions? In a world where those influencers mentioned earlier often come to the fore with but a single viral tweet or video, only to find their every word scrutinised for its potential to shape followers’ actions / ideals, originally far-fetched dilemmas such as these are fast gaining pertinence, making the script’s refusal to commit to one moral standpoint as the more righteous stance all the more powerful in hindsight. Serving full justice to weighty debates such as these takes more than politically charged dialogue and the odd explosive set-piece, of course; you’ll also need accomplished performers with the emotional range to keep a straight face given the tale’s disbelief-testing premise, yet simultaneously to avoid sinking listeners into despair when critiquing our childhood cravings for supernatural abilities. It’s for this reason that the decision to centre Karma around three core stars rather than an overstuffed ensemble works to such compelling effect – naturally Naoko Mori resurrects Toshiko’s personal vulnerability, intellectual sense of humour and oft-overlooked bravery with the ease of flicking a light-switch, but don’t underestimate Jonny Dixon or Sara McGaughey either. Both shine with remarkable intensity given their newfound introduction into the Torchwood universe, Dixon’s initially collected take on soldier-turned-bus driver Simon belying a deeply unsettling egotism underneath and McCaughey’s seemingly blindly faithful lover Janet fast revealing herself as no less psychologically complex – nor formidable – as events take a turn for the worst. Perhaps it’s telling, then, that this reviewer’s only reservation towards the finished product concerns the sense of unfinished business lingering for these richly-detailed characters as the credits roll all too abruptly. Every great storyteller knows the value of leaving their audience wanting more, but past instalments in Big Finish’s monthly Torchwood range left us practically on the edge of our seats, desperate to know what became of Jack’s investigation into the Committee after The Conspiracy and Uncanny Valley, who the time travelling conspirators engineering events in Visiting Hours were or – as discussed last month – the true intentions of Norton Folgate, only for subsequent instalments to pick up with the same protagonists and yet virtually no sign of those previous plot threads. While this could suggest a bigger game-plan at work, what with one-off releases such as The Torchwood Archive and Outbreak admittedly furthering some of those minor story arcs, some might equally interpret it as Big Finish wanting to avoid those picking up a random Jack or Owen release in the monthly range finding themselves lost amidst ongoing story arcs, in which case return trips to Karma might induce a frustrating sense of longing for the closure which never came. But that’s a question for another day – no doubt our understanding of Torchwood’s evolving narrative continuity under Big Finish will continue to grow as a second season of post-Miracle Day antics launches this autumn and the monthly range kicks into top gear with a full year’s worth of standalone missions starting next March. Regardless, Instant Karma confirms without any hesitation that now’s the perfect time for the studio to up their game with further monthly outings, delivering both exhilarating action for superhero aficionados and arguably the perfect therapy session for anyone in serious need of venting their stress mid-commute. Just be sure to remind Goss, Llewellyn and Morris that we told you as much, alright? The New Gods only know what’ll happen if we incur their wrath. Next Time on Torchwood – Never mind superheroes, though; to paraphrase one Jim Moriarty, every comic-book needs a good old-fashioned villain. Trouble is that those ne’er do wells reckless enough to stand in the Torchwood team’s way rarely live to tell the tale, with one notable exception – Bilis Manger. If only we could ascertain the whereabouts of Abbadon’s kindly yet secretly bloodthirsty benefactor, then perhaps, just perhaps, this fourth season of monthly releases could finally buck the trend of past runs ending on devastatingly underwhelming notes. No luck? Oh well – we’d best retreat to the Travellers’ Halt for the night in that case. Rumour has it that the buffet’s to die for… http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2018/08/torchwood_instant_karma_big_finish.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[barnsyink]

‘Antman and Wasp is Awesome

Read the title above. It’s true. The movie is awesome. Wait, I need to try that again, IS AWESOME!!!! Better. Saw it with my Wife and Daughter on Sunday, at the Buffalo Grove Theater, Fantastic Popcorn by the way, and was not disappointed at all! Nice mix of comedy, action, story, great cast, right enough of drama without bringing the film down. The pacing was perfect. This was everything that ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ was not. ‘Ant Man’, and ‘Ant and Wasp’, is a better version of the Marvel Comic characters then their comic book counter parts.

​The first film, released in 2015, did an great job adapting some of the material found in the comic books to make a cohesive story. Scott Lang, introduced in 'Avengers' #181, in 1979, was the second Ant Man and was a Ex-Convict. He was a burglar who tried to support his family the only way he thought he could. 

In the comics, Lang stole Pym's Ant Man suit to save his daughter, Cassie, who was seriously ill. Lang sought out Dr. Erica Sondheim, who was forcibly taken from Darrin Cross of Cross Technological Enterprises.

Lang broke into Pym's home and stole the Ant-Man suit and shrinking gas canisters.Lang discovered that Sondheim was being held prisoner by Darren Cross. After Lang rescued Sondheim, she was able to save Cassie's life. Lang had intended to return the Ant-Man suit to Pym and was allowed to keep it as long he remained a hero. 

​Darrin Cross was in the first film. He was the guy, in the beginning, who wants Pym's approval as he is using Pym's company to make weapons. Lang also stole Pym's suit in the first film, but that was a set up by Pym to recruit Lang's assistance.

Doctor Hank Pym (The Original Ant Man) debuted in the 1962 as part of the comic anthology, ’Tales to Astonish’ #32. Biophysicist expert, Pym, invented Pym Particles that allowed him to change his size with the use of a tech suit created by Pym himself.  

​​Pym only decided to become a superhero after the death of his first wife, Maria Trovaya, who had been a political dissident in Hungary. Remember this comic was made in the 1960’s during the cold war. Falling in love with Pym and believing that his American citizenship would protect her, Hank and Maria traveled back to Hungary shortly after their marriage. Confronted by corrupt agents of the secret police, Pym was subdued and Maria murdered. Pym chose to deal with his grief by doing whatever he could in the future to battle Evil. 

Ant Man shared his discovery with his new girlfriend and second wife, Janet van Dyne, who became his crime-fighting partner the Wasp, when he helped her avenge the death of her scientist father Vernon van Dyne. Janet sought Pym’s help after her father was killed by an alien unleashed by one of Vernon's own experiments. Wasp had wings and stingers when she would shrink in size offering air support to Ant Man's ground battles.

The original Ant Man design, by Jack Kirby, was originally meant for Spider-Man but was not approved by Stan Lee, the writer of Spider-Man.

​Throughout the run of Ant Man, in comics, Pym has been portrayed as being unstable. The ability to shrink and grow, would effect Pym's mind causing him to resort to drugs. The instability was hinted at in the first film when Pym tells Lang that he had problems with the suit. Pym created Ultron, from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', not Tony Stark or Bruce Banner.

In the first film, Pym was devoted to Janet Van Dyne, Haunted by losing her on a mission to stop a missile launch. She disappeared into the Quantum Universe thought dead. Pym's work as a scientist is as important in the comics and in the movie, but his morality is more solid in the film. 

In the comics, Pym, still loved Janet, but was physically and mentally abusive to her. They divorced. Janet and Hank are depicted to be in their 60's, roughly, which works great in the films. A legacy or lineage created while in the comics, no one really ages or changes. Time is quite ambiguous.

​In 'Ant Man and Wasp' depicted Janet as a loving, intelligent, devoted mom and wife, and is Hank's balance. She is willing to sacrifice herself for others and spends thirty years in a subatomic world. That universe is awesome on the big screen by the way.

Janet is bound to gain super powers in the realm of supernatural. She even heals the villain of the second film. Heart and soul of the good guys. In the comics, Janet has been portrayed as shallow, silly, selfish and not shown as a intelligent woman. Ridiculous.  

Hank has had various alias in the comics: Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliath, Yellow Jacket, and Wasp. Yellow Jacket was a completely new persona created from his mental break down. Pym became Wasp after Janet was thought to have died in the comics. She got better. Nobody stays dead in comics.

These are Legacy films serving not only to start the story of the current Ant Man and Wasp but to continue the story of the  originals.

​Here is a side note, Darrin Cross, from earlier, is still alive, and a villain, in the comics. Yeah, he was the first Yellowjacket in the first film, dying at the end. In the comics, Cross is the third Yellowjacket, still fighting Ant Man. Both films stand on their own. The second briefs the audience as we go on this ride. Lang is on House arrest for the two years for helping Captain America in 'Captain America: Civil War'. Pym and Hope are on the run from the FBI and are mad at Lang for using the suit without permission. The focus is searching for Janet in the Quantum Universe, a sub atomic world.

Lang is now linked to Janet due to being in that universe briefly in the previous film. Pym and Hope had to use criminal means to get supplies to create the Quantum tunnel to attempt to free Janet. Pym's lab is microscopic and the man power is provided by giant ants. Of course it is. Ghost and the underworld both want that lab because it holds salvation for Ghost and potential wealth power on the black market.​This is where a typical Super Hero film becomes a Sci-fi/fantasy film.They even use a third rate villain named Ghost, from the comics, turning her into a formidable foe and sympathetic character. Her purpose is too cure herself of a unstable molecule condition. She believes that Janet Van Dyne can help her with the quantum particles now inside Janet. That is of course because she has spent three decades in that universe.

Ghost, was originally a guy in the comics, but is better here.She is a victim of circumstance and manipulation from those who would control her.​Bill Foster, in 'Ant Man and Wasp', is a Professor, former colleague of Pym's and a former SHIELD agent. Pym asks for his help, which he gives. Later, Foster is revealed as being the one helping Ghost. He is a good man with good intentions. In the comics, Foster was the second Giant Man and took on the moniker of Goliath before dying in the comic version of 'Marvel's Civil War'. In 'Ant Man and Wasp', he survives.

A lot of fun with Luis and his Ex con crew again. They were not from the comics but were a good creation. In the second film, with Scott Lang,are trying to be successful in the security business while also helping out with Pym and Hope.

Everybody had reason to exist in these films. No one was unused. Evey piece connects to one another telling more of the story, even Lang's daughter, Cassie, serves as is confidant. Reminding Lang that he is a good man needing to not give up on himself. Cassie also gives her blessing to Scott's relationship with Hope.

Cassie Lang, is from the comics and later she become Stature. Hope exits in a alternate Marvel Universe as a villain. In the current comics, Hank has a daughter, from his first marriage, named Nadia. She is pretty much the Hope character in the comics.​Redemption, forgiveness, desperation, and understanding is key in this series. If Marvel was smart, replace the comic continuity with the Film continuity in the monthly comics. Tighter and stronger in all ways.

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